Aerial photography of Cullenagh courtesy of David Gaughan, Ballina

Health and Safety

Infrastructure Maintenance

We want the Cullenagh estate to be a safe environment for everyone. There are still safety risks within the estate. The committee has provided a list of known risks to the Council and are monitoring their action. However, the greatest risk is excess speed on our roads. The estate speed limit is 30 Kmph but many vehicles exceed this. Our preference is to encourage compliance without introduction of physical traffic calming measures. We plan to introduce road signage and engage in communication/education. However, if this doesn't work, our kids lives take priority over our car axles, so watch out for the speed bumps.

Previous action by the Residents Committee and residents have resulted in improvements to roads, street lighting and water supply. This eventually led to Tipperary County Council 'Taking the estate in Charge' in Autumn 2015. Irish Water took responsibility for our water supply shortly afterwards . Our roads, footpaths, street lighting, water supply, surface water and foul sewers are now being managed to the same standard as elsewhere in the county. The challenge is that we are now competing with all the other estates in Tipperary for funding maintenance and improvement of infrastructure. One of the key roles of your Residents Committee is to vocally represent the interests of the Cullenagh estate to the council and other state bodies.

Landscaping and management of open spaces

Projects

The Residents' Committee, in consultation with residents, have identified a number of projects for the improvement of the estate. This is a multi-year plan. The priority of the projects is reviewed each year at the AGM and new projects are added to the plan. Progress of each project is largely driven by the interest shown by residents and their willingness to 'get stuck in' and help.

Please visit the Project Page for a description of the projects that are completed and those that are still under consideration.

Improvement of the visual appearance of the estate and access to green areas is a priority. On paper, the Council should be maintaining the verges and green areas within the estate. However, this is not a priority for them. The Council may take responsibility for green areas in high density estates with limited green areas but estates such as Cullenagh are not a priority. They are however supportive of us maintaining and improving verges and managing the green areas. Many other residents voluntarily maintain the verges outside their homes, but many verges taken over by the Council are not maintained. We propose to centrally fund grass cutting of existing grass verges. We will include the verges that are laid to grass over time and will manage these as well. This is described in the project section.

Map showing the the boundaries of the Cullenagh estate and the verges and areas of shrubbery that will be maintained from your voluntary contribution

Vision

We believe that Cullenagh has the potential to be the finest estate in County Tipperary. The estate infrastructure is at last fit for purpose and properly managed. We now need to improve the visual appearance of the estate to complement the beautiful scenery that surrounds us and grow our feeling of community within the estate.

Plan

The Residents Committee have an action plan to address the following;

• Grass cutting and maintenance of existing verges and shrubbery

• Landscaping of unmanaged areas to create new verges and access to the green areas within the estate

• Working with Tipperary County Council and the Utility Companies to address remaining safety hazards within the estate

• Creation of amenities for the improvement of life within the estate

• Development of a sense of community

All this takes money. We normally propose an annual voluntary payment of €70 per household per year to fund estate maintenance and improvement.

The Detail

Planning

The Residents' committee monitors planning applications on the estate and will make submissions to the Council. We will also coordinate community action in where necessary if proposed planning is to the detriment of our vision for the estate. In general, our focus is multi unit planning, not on private development of individual plots although we have, and will in future, argue against the sub-division of plots. Our goal is for the remaining sites within the estate to be developed quickly with low density family homes of good quality that respect their neighbours in terms of size and position. These principles were captured in the Cullenagh Master Plan developed by the Council. The fine detail of planning will change, but the principles of the Cullenagh Master Plan remain our "Holy Grail".

Over the years, plans for the estate have included recreational amenities for residents (tennis courts, jetty, playgrounds, cycle paths). We would seek inclusion of amenities for residents in future plans; if opportunities arise to achieve this, we will consult with residents to decide which amenities are most suitable for the estate.

Community

We want Cullenagh to be more than a dormitory estate housing families working in Limerick and beyond. We want to promote a sense of community within the estate and a sense of belonging to the wider community of Ballina/Killaloe.The committee will seek out and promote activities that bring the resident together as a community.

Cullenagh Residents Committee

email cullenaghresidents@gmail.com

Governance

The residents of the Cullenagh estate are represented by the Cullenagh Residents Committee which is elected each year at the AGM usually by a show of hands. The AGM is held each year in the spring. The committee comprises of a Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer. Each road in the estate is represented by a named "Road Rep" who is responsible for representing the concerns of residents to the committee and for communication to residents of the road/s they represent. In addition, there are a varying number of specialist with interest/expertise in issues such as Planning, Landscaping/Estate Maintenance, Community Development and Road Safety. There are typically between 7 and 12 committee members. It is not unusual for some members hold multiples roles on the committee.

Committee meeting are held on average every two months. Decisions can be made between meeting using the committee WhatsApp group. Quorum for a committee meeting and online votes are that 1/2 the committee members and two of the officers should be present.