End to Estate Management Companies

Labour's Cllr Keith Martin has called for an end to the establishment and operation of management companies for private housing estates in Mayo.

 

Cllr Martin who is a seeking re-election to Westport Town Council and election to Mayo County Council says these Management Companies are now imposing "often penal charges on householders for a range of services that would normally have been provided by a local authority."

 

According to Cllr Martin It is now time for Mayo's local authorities to act to stop this practice which is costing home owners over €500 and up to €1,000 per year.

"This is, in effect, yet another stealth tax being imposed on householders. Only last week I was in Louisburgh and there is a new estate "Ard Cahir" where the council is insisting on a management company purely and simply to ensure they don't have to cut the grass and manage the estate.  It's a stealth tax on home owners who are finding it very hard to make ends meet without being subjected to a privatisation of council services."

"The imposition of these charges is an insidious development that adds hugely to the burden of thousands of young householders who are already struggling to meet crippling mortgage payments.

"What has been happening is that when local authority managers are granting permission for housing developments, they are including a condition that key public services, such as roads, open spaces, lighting, water and sewage services be provided for a specified period by private management companies, rather than the local authority itself as would traditionally have been the case.

 

"When signing contracts for the purchase of a house in these areas, couples are effectively being given an ultimatum to sign up to the management companies and to accept the charges they impose. There may be a role for private management companies, run on co-operative basis by residents, in regard to apartment blocks, but there is none in regard to traditional housing developments.

 

"When elected I will make it council policy to prohibit this practise and to wind up existing companies where there services can and should be performed by the council."

 

 

Cllr Keith Martin

086 0691182

Time for Tubberhill

Cllr Keith Martin has called on Westport Town Manager, Peter Hynes, to name the date for the allocation of the Tubberhill Social and Affordable housing scheme.

Cllr Martin says the allocations were supposed to take place in late 2008 and that the council should now name the date for allocating social and affordable housing to successful applicants.

"This is the most important council project in the life of the current council and I am proud to have played my role along with my fellow councillors in funding and approving this scheme.  The housing is completed to the highest building and environmental standards and can be heated all year round for the cost of one tank of oil thanks to the innovative system of heat retention and insulation which was incorporated into the design.  The scheme is ideally suited and located and I think it is an impressive scheme visually and architecturally.

"However I think it is high time that we made the allocations on the units and I have written to the Manager to request that he set a date for the allocation of the units as there is a huge interest and demand for the scheme particularly from people living in the area who want a council or affordable house.  I want to see people moving into those houses before the summer and I look forward to the manager naming the day so we can celebrate some house warmings."

Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182

Campaign update

11 days to go.

Am covering the Electoral Area and should have called to almost every home in the area by June 5th.

Working hard to get back to voters on each issue as they arrise.

Think June 6th will be a very interesting day.


-- Post From My iPhone

Vote for me

Two weeks to go

With two weeks tomorrow till polling day the tension is getting to Saoirse as you can see in this pic


-- Post From My iPhone

the only bull on my campaign

The only bull in my campaign. He was watching me canvass.



-- Post From My iPhone

Curious in Carrowholly

Here's a curious creature in Carrowholly that I came across on my canvass today. Very friendly he was too! Issues in Carrowholly are roads and jobs. Also concern among farmers worried about milk prices and their treatment at the hands of the Government.




-- Post From My iPhone

Gilmore in Westport

Gilmore in Westport.

Keith Martin

086 0691182

Eamon Gilmore opens our office on James Street

Please find attached a photo of Eamon Gilmore and Susan O'Keefe opening our office on James Street.

Please run it if you can.

Thanks

Keith Martin 

086 0691182

Canvassing

New poster has gone up!

Eamon Gilmore and Susan O'Keefe open Westport Labour Office

 

Filming in Westport worth almost 1,000,000

Filming in Mayo in the last 12 months was worth €785,000 to Westport's economy according to Mayo liaison to the Irish Film Board and local election candidate Cllr Keith Martin.  Cllr Martin says that upon his election to Mayo County Council that he will establish a film office to promote Mayo as a venue for filmmaking.

In 2005 Cllr Martin established Westport Town Council's film budget of €5,000 making Westport the only town council in Ireland to promote itself as a film friendly location, consequently the greater Westport area has reaped the rewards according to the figures released today by Cllr Martin.

According to Cllr Martin "the vast majority of the local spend is from the German film "Heart's Desire" which was filmed in and around Westport last year.  The spend here in Mayo amounted to roughly €750,000 on accommodation, food, equipment, rentals, office hire, transport, labour, extras etc and only last week the Slovenian production 'Circus Fantasticus' finished filming on Silver Stand and they estimate their local spend to have been about €35,000.

"This kind of spend is fantastic for the local economy and is one of the reasons why we must continue to market Westport and Mayo as a venue for filmmaking.  The other spin off benefit is that there is a tourism benefit to being the location for filming.  One only has to look at "Quiet Man" which is still drawing tourists to Mayo from all over the world more than 50 years after it was made."

Cllr Keith Martin has served as the liaison officer with the Irish Film Board since his appointment by the Irish Film Commissioner Naoise Barry in late 2004. 

Following the meeting Cllr Martin and in the absence of a formal film office in Mayo Cllr Martin became the "de facto" Film Commission for Mayo and has been of assistance to many productions scouting Mayo for locations and assisting those filming here in Mayo.

On more than one occasion he has had to put his local knowledge and connections to the test and once at very short notice was able to rustle up a horse in Westport for a film production in Achill at a couple of hours notice!

All of this work is done on a volunteer basis, though Cllr Martin is supported by Mayo County Council and Westport Town Council and both authorities have built a fantastic reputation for themselves as film friendly councils.

To date Cllr Martin has assisted 12 productions since 2004 in Westport and Mayo and Cllr Martin estimates the value of these productions, which include no less than three feature films, to run into millions of euro.

"That is why when I am elected to Mayo County Council that I will establish a full time film office to promote Westport and Mayo as a venue for film making.  We should not forget that Mayo is the home of such memorable and successful films such as "The Quiet Man" and "The Field" which still attract tourism to this day.  Mayo has massive untapped filming potential and I will exploit that to create jobs and attract investment."

 Keith Martin

086 0691182

 

 

 

Wreath laying to mark May Day and Michael Davitt

Friends and supporters of the Labour Party watch as Cllr Keith Martin and David Fallon of the Westport Labour Party lay a wreath at the Michael Davitt memorial on the Newport Road, Westport to mark May Day and the contribution of Michael Davitt to the Labour movement.

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Keith Martin