Housing target of 800 for rural Wexford town is a ‘theoretical figure'

In the wake of news that Wexford County Council (WCC) has freed up land for the construction of a possible 800 homes in Bunclody, local councillor Barbara Anne Murphy has sought to clarify what this means for the town. As part of its efforts to tackle housing shortages in the county, WCC has begun rezoning land for residential use in towns and villages; however, at the October meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD) Cllr Murphy explained that this didn't necessarily mean the council would be building 800 houses in Bunclody between now and 2034. 'The rezoning of the land in Bunclody seems to have been completely misunderstood on social media, currently, WCC doesn't have plans to build 800 houses in the county,' she said. 'This land is being zoned (for residential use) over a period of time and the houses will be private, affordable, and social. They may or may not get built because some of that land has been zoned for residential for a long time.' Read more 800 homes to be built in Bunclody as Wexford council steps up housing delivery targets for 2034 According to senior planner, David Wall, the numbers included in the council's rezoning plans are 'capacity figures' for Bunclody and planning permission would still be required before anything could be built. 'It's a maximum theoretical figure,' he said. 'The land use has been changed to residential,' specified Cathaoirleach Pat Kehoe. 'And it may be possible to build houses on it now,' added Cllr Murphy. Although the land will be eligible for housing applications in the future, Mr Wall said developments could only go ahead once the required services were in place. 'We would require Uisce Éireann to provide connections for these houses, otherwise it's pie in the sky.' Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.