Old Ongar to Clonee Road

ongarite

Anyone have any info on what's going on?

At first I thought they were just laying cables (UPC) along the old road but today I've noticed that street lights are being installed along with some kerbing. I presume they are then going to resurface the road.

Is it going to be re-opened to traffic or is this the long promised (by Manor Park) pedestrianisation of the road?

Jehuty42

http://www.leovaradkar.ie/?p=1375

ongarboy

Good to hear! I remember when I was out for a run quite late one night recently and took a shortcut through this road. I got the creeps half way down the road as it really was pitch dark and isolated. I have given it a miss since then!

bigjoe

A quarter of a million Euro to be spent on what, to keep a few people happy and more important to get votes because he knows, what his party and him are doing in power at the moment won’t get him elected again unless they buys the votes.

There is a lot more in the area the money could be spent on. I don’t have any kids but I see it day in day out there is not enough been done for them in the area. The money is been funded from a department with sport in its title, why not use it for sport for kids.

How many of these quarter of a million Euros are been wasted around the country to buy votes that could be spent to keep hospital beds open.

ciaran76

I walked down that road at about 6-7pm recently and the amount of rats and dumped rubbish was unreal. I am sure both are linked to each other.

Some lovely trees own that road too.

Flimbos

It's a pity the "large open spaces between Ongar and Latchford" have been allowed to become overgrown and unusable as a public amenity, well on the Ongar side anyway.

As Ongar Park was under the control of Manor Park (who are now in receivership), I can't see this improving any time soon.

donegal.295

where is ongar park? and which road is the old hansfield road?

Flimbos

donegal.295 wrote: »

where is ongar park? and which road is the old hansfield road?

Ongar Park is the large open green in Ongar and the Old Hansfield Road runs between it and Latchford.

d15ude

Flimbos wrote: »

It's a pity the "large open spaces between Ongar and Latchford" have been allowed to become overgrown and unusable as a public amenity, well on the Ongar side anyway.

there are enough "large open spaces" already in the area. they are a bit like green desserts.
let them overgrow, and in a few years we might have a few nice little urban forests.

annR

I walked down this road a week or two ago and I think it's great they're doing something with it, however they didn't clean up any of the rubbish . . . .it's still a tip! There is also still a lot of rubbish dumped in the trees between Ongar playground and the village. Speaking of the playground it seems to be regularly vandalised. What's the story with Ongar . . . .

Larbre34

The open spaces are being let overgrow as a deliberate policy by the Parks Department, as they have no money to cut the open spaces to encourage ecological diversity. Theres a load of spoof about it on the Fingal website....

Theres a bit of work to do yet on the upgrade of the old road but my guess is it will be cleaned up for the photo op to open it in the spring time and then will be ignored and become badly littered again. The fact that old section of road was left in place and not absorbed into Ongar or Latchford etc is just another indictment to add to the list of crap developer led planning that defines Ongar and its environs

I noticed out running lately that litter generally is chronic around the place at the moment, and I dont blame the Council, a big chunk of people just dont give a sh*t.

annR

yeah but someone has to clean it up. Besides I think dumping is more likely to happen if there's already piles of rubbish there. The lights and increased usage might make a difference.

ronan45

annR wrote: »

I walked down this road a week or two ago and I think it's great they're doing something with it, however they didn't clean up any of the rubbish . . . .it's still a tip! There is also still a lot of rubbish dumped in the trees between Ongar playground and the village. Speaking of the playground it seems to be regularly vandalised. What's the story with Ongar . . . .

Agree with Annr Ongar is fast becoming quite rundown looking, And "A quarter of a million Euro" on that stretch of road????? Could that be right???? The lane that the skag heads burn the cars out on? Surely not
Price of Asphalt and tar must be up lol

Dubsox

ronan45 wrote: »

Agree with Annr Ongar is fast becoming quite rundown looking, And "A quarter of a million Euro" on that stretch of road????? Could that be right???? The lane that the skag heads burn the cars out on? Surely not
Price of Asphalt and tar must be up lol

Apparently the original funding request was for €500,000 and was intended to facilitate a full cleanup of the area and provide lighting, cycleways, pedestrian routes and railings. In the end only half that was provided so it remains to be seen exactly what can be accomplished.

I was also down that road relatively recently and, while there may still be an unacceptable amount of rubbish around, I thought that it was nowhere near as bad as it had been....different strokes an all that.

By the way, that road is now closed to traffic so the boy racers are no longer an issue...thank God for small mercies.

As for the general state of Ongar, there are a few things that have contributed to that situation.

I recently recieved my Management Fee notice for 2012 where it was revealed that the Management Company for my area (a small subset of the whole development) is owed over €100,000 by a minority of owners who have not paid their fees. This money should now be in the sink fund and used to carry out the necessary maintenance and restoration work but the money isn't there so the work doesn't get done. The majority of home owners, who are paying their fees, are effectively subsidising this minority and getting nothing in return. I can only assume that this story is being replicated right throughout the development.

Another point is that a large percentage of the development is owned by absentee owners who have no interest in the social fabric of the area. I'm not saying that tenants are less responsible citizens than owner occupiers but, in the current situation, there is no accountability where problems occur. I personally have been the victim of anti-social behaviour from a neighbour for three years now and I have been unable to get anything done about it. As someone who was brought up to show respect and accept responsibility, I just cannot fathom how an increasing number of people in this country can behave with so little consideration for their neighbours and their community. Whether it's by making noise, littering, bad manners, poor driving or agression, this lack of respect has become all too commonplace.

ongarboy

Dubsox,

I wholeheartedly agree with every single point you make. I also received a mgt fee letter stating why nothing can be spent on improvements and they have said they will issue a name and shame roll call of non paying property owners in the area as this exercise has proved a success in other communities. I'm not sure how effective this will be.

It is galling that the significant % of us who pay our fees on time seem to get nothing in return. The communal walls of our place are a disgrace from peeling paint, the outdoor stairwells of many duplexes are crumbling (mine included) and I have not being able to get Wallis to send someone out to fix mine despite first raising it almost 2 years ago. As tough as it is, I will not boycott the fees as I acknowledge this just aggravates the situation for me as well as all other timely payers.

That is an interesting point about the high % of owners who are not resident in Ongar and therefore do not have a vested interest in how well the place looks. This is aggravated by transient residents (some not all) who also are indifferent to how the place looks. Sorry, Monday morning moan over!! :mad:

oblivious

ongarboy wrote: »

That is an interesting point about the high % of owners who are not resident in Ongar and therefore do not have a vested interest in how well the place looks. This is aggravated by transient residents (some not all) who also are indifferent to how the place looks. Sorry, Monday morning moan over!! :mad:

Has anyone not been prosecute for not paying (its a contract they freely entered into). Wallis where always saying that they where, when we where there but i suspect they just did the name and shame?

Dubsox

ongarboy wrote: »

As tough as it is, I will not boycott the fees as I acknowledge this just aggravates the situation for me as well as all other timely payers.

I've been thinking about this issue myself. I've always paid on time before but I warned WPM recently that I may not pay the fee before the deadline unless they could provide me with some assurances regarding my anti-social behavior predicament. I've been banging my head against a brick wall for the last three years and I just felt that the fee was the only leverage I had. However I take your point about it being a self-defeating course of action. It just feels that everywhere you turn in this country right now, you run into yet another brick wall.

Dubsox

oblivious wrote: »

Has anyone not been prosecute for not paying (its a contract they freely entered into). Wallis where always saying that they where, when we where there but i suspect they just did the name and shame?

They have certainly claimed in the past that they have taken legal action but they also say that it is a long and costly process. There are legal fees mentioned in the budget breakdown every year although, prior to this year, not so much as to suggest that any legal action had been taken. Maybe things are changing but I suspect the "name and shame" policy is as much as they can do right now given the hole in the budget.

ongarboy

Another thing back in the early years of Ongar during the boom (03 - 07), properties were changing hands frequently due to the soaring prices and profits to be made and a condition of sale is to have your mgt fees fully paid up to point of sale. This probably kept Wallis etc's with surplus finance and why we saw more frequent maintenance activity around the area.

Dubsox, is there anything you can do involving the Gardai regarding the antisocial behaviour you are enduring? No one should have to endure that.

ronan45

Do you have to pay a yearly maintenance charge in Ongar? Why not in the other estates around the area? And when does it end this property maintance? 5 years or so?

Dubsox

ongarboy wrote: »

Dubsox, is there anything you can do involving the Gardai regarding the antisocial behaviour you are enduring? No one should have to endure that.

I've involved the Gardai on a few occasions but it can be a while before they arrive and the disturbance may have ended. The last time I called, they knocked on the door but got no reply so they left. I don't think they have any rights to gain access unless they suspect something quite serious. I've asked WPM to enforce the house rules regarding noise and floor coverings and to get the owner to abide by the legal contract that was signed when the apartment was purchased. It appears though that the owner is refusing to engage on any of this. WPM has assured me that they are pursuing the issue through legal means but it's turning out to be a very slow process. Meanwhile I just have to sit around waiting for the next sleepless night to arrive. Honestly if I wanted to live my life like this I'd have had kids.

Dubsox

ronan45 wrote: »

Do you have to pay a yearly maintenance charge in Ongar? Why not in the other estates around the area? And when does it end this property maintance? 5 years or so?

In the case of apartments with shared externals or common areas there will always be the need for a management company. That doesn't have to be the Agency that was appointed by the builders. It can be made up of the residents themselves. Either way there will always be a requirement for a pooling of money in order to pay for buildings insurance and the maintenance (lighting, heating etc. ) of the common areas.

Where this becomes a contentious issue is in the case of house owners in developments where management fees apply. There are others more qualified to talk about this issue but I gather that most if not all house owners would be quite anxious for the Council to take control of the public areas so that they no longer have to pay fees.

oblivious

Dubsox wrote: »

Where this becomes a contentious issue is in the case of house owners in developments where management fees apply. There are others more qualified to talk about this issue but I gather that most if not all house owners would be quite anxious for the Council to take control of the public areas so that they no longer have to pay fees.

COCO's can be mandate to take over the green areas apparently, but the issue with fee for house is the maintenance out side the house and such that will not be covered by the COCO

While people may say they will look after the own area, everyone has a separate contract that the area will be maintained to certain level and all would have to agree and not just a vote of majorette

That or take over the management as a group, but that would bring people into dispute with neighbours that wont pay or do their bit to clean the place up