Three months to get Council response on site

A WEST Cork councillor confessed that he is ‘exasperated at times’ by the delay in getting responses from different departments of Cork County Council.

A few months ago, Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) called on the Council to lease a parcel of land in Durrus to the local Men’s Shed. He said he first raised the matter as a motion at the October meeting of the West Cork Municipal District and followed it up at a subsequent meeting of the Western Committee, which was dealing with environment and road issues.

‘I was told to raise it at the Western Committee meeting dealing with housing – because the land was originally bought for housing but is not currently being used – and I did that in November,’ said Cllr Collins.

The councillors said he also sent an email requesting a response but had, at the time of going to press, ‘no definitive answer.’ It was at the Monday, December 7th meeting of the West Cork Municipal District that he brought the subject up again. He said he, and other members of the Council, are concerned about the delay in getting a response to their queries.

‘We are elected to represent our communities but some departments do not come back with a prompt reply. I am now three months down the road and still waiting for a response – that is not good enough.

‘I have a meeting with the Men’s Shed in Durrus this week and they are going to be asking me what is the story and I have no answer for them.’

The story was covered by The Southern Star in October after Cllr Collins complained that rats had taken up residence on the Council-owned site.

At the time, he suggested that the land would be put to better use if the men’s group would be allowed to use it to grow vegetables for local distribution.