Sir, – I refer to your report that funding for the regeneration of the Oliver Bond housing scheme in Dublin has been withdrawn (“‘We’re absolutely devastated’: Regeneration of Dublin’s Oliver Bond flats scrapped,” Home, May 6th).
Unfortunately, this regeneration was very limited in its scope.
This is a consequence of some crazy features in our planning legislation.
The “protected structure” status of these flats overrides everything, including reality. That’s why the only regeneration option was to upgrade and retrofit the existing structures.
RM Block
For an amalgam of 90-year-old substandard flats to have this designation is absurd.
They need to be knocked and the site redeveloped to current standards.
I worked in local government for 34 years from the early 1970s. Back then, housing authorities met the needs of the population. This was done through a massive social housing construction campaign, common-sense planning decisions that permitted new dwellings where needed, and the provision of council loans to purchase homes built by the private sector.
The Oliver Bond decision, amid an affordable-housing supply crisis and when Dublin City Council wants to spend about €500 million on a new HQ, is not a great look.
Herbert Simms delivered a huge housing programme during his tenure at Dublin Corporation. A tenure that had tragic personal consequences.
His legacy would be best served by a contemporary zeal to provide homes rather than pandering to a meaningless designation in the text of a development plan.
A designation that can be legally removed. – Yours, etc,
Larry Dunne,
Rosslare Harbour,
Co Wexford.
Sir, – Objection to the costly regeneration of Oliver Bond flats is unsurprising. No doubt long-term residents would prefer Dublin City Council to refurbish – just to fix the environmental decay.
This will probably be just as costly as the proposed regeneration – including amalgamation of smaller flats – as the buildings are historic. But refurbishment would benefit existing tenants who’ve lived there for decades, because they will retain their community around them. And the “too small to live in” argument doesn’t make much sense when Ireland is busy legalising beds in garden sheds.
The now-abandoned regeneration scheme would force the poorest and most isolated tenants, those in the smallest flats, to move elsewhere and lose contact with friends and neighbours. This sort of thing happens in town and cities around the world and it’s called gentrification. – Yours, etc,
Tracey Logan
Urban historian,
Chiswick,
London.
