Residents' blackout fears allayed
by Laura Ryder Updated: Monday, 28th November, 2011 10:30am
ESB has moved to allay fears of a blackout in Shandra Woods housing estate on the Cloneygowan Road in Portarlington next week, in the wake of the estate's developer telling the electricity supplier he was no longer going to pay the bills for the estate's public lights.
Kieran O'Neill from ESB confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that the developer contacted ESB "to say that he wants his liability terminated for this estate". Residents feared a deadline date of November 30 would mean a blackout in the estate. However Mr O'Neill told the Offaly Independent yesterday the company will not leave residents in the dark.
Andrea Doyle is secretary of the Shandra Woods Residents' Association, and the mother-of-three who has lived in the estate for almost eight years said the possibility of having no public lighting concerned her. "Aside from the obvious issues, we're coming into winter now," she said. "It's dark by half four. It's leaving us wide open to theft. It's coming up to Christmas and you know yourself what you'd have in the house. And then of course you're talking about public safety - your children, yourself. If you and your neighbour were to clip cars when you're coming out because there's no lights, things like that. These are all very real possibilities that could happen to any one of us in the estate."
Fearful of being left in the dark, she said the Residents' Association even debated taking over the account themselves, but were advised by a solicitor that they probably wouldn't get public liability insurance cover, which would close off this option as an impossibility.
Fellow resident Lisa Bryan runs the "Little Stars" creche from her home in Shandra Woods.
While the public lighting issue won't affect her business, she said it would affect her in a personal capacity. "If an estate is in darkness it brings around all sorts, simple as," she said.
"That's what we'd be worried about." She also dismissed the idea of residents paying for public lighting themselves. "I don't see why we should have to take it on," she said. "We pay the bills inside our house. We shouldn't be expected to do the ones outside."
Local councillors John Foley and Eddie Fitzpatrick are now working with residents in a bid to resolve the issue. According to Ms Doyle it was Cllr Foley who re-negotiated a deadline date of November 14 to have a new account holder in place to November 30.
Residents are now looking for Offaly County Council to take the estate in charge, which would see the council becoming responsible for the public lighting.
Cllr Fitzpatrick told the Offaly Independent yesterday he was working on bringing such an application to Offaly County Council from developer Pat Martin of Drumgoan Developments, while residents were due to meet last night with a view to bringing their own application to the council.
Ms Doyle said she's pinning all her hopes on this avenue now, as she doesn't know where else to go. "We can't be left in darkness," she said.
Speaking to the Offaly Independent yesterday ESB's Mr O'Neill said after receiving instruction from the developer of Shandra Woods to terminate his liability the company wrote to both the Residents' Association and Offaly County Council looking for a nomination to take over the account.
Though it looks unlikely a nomination will be supplied by the November 30 deadline put in place, Mr O'Neill said the company will not leave residents in the dark for December, and there is "no immediate threat of disconnection".
He said the company will work to reach a resolution on the matter, with both residents of the estate and the council.
Pat Martin of Drumgoan Developments had not returned a call to the Offaly Independent at time of going to press.
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