A general election candidate vying to become a TD has said that there have been “no new houses built in almost 20 years” in Arklow, Co Wicklow.
In an election leaflet the candidate claimed: “Arklow has faced so many challenges over the years – no new houses built in almost 20 years.”
Evaluation
A council paper from 2021 claimed that 165 housing units had been completed in Arklow between 2016 and 2021. Meanwhile, Google Street View clearly shows evidence of at least two housing developments in Arklow.
The facts
In 2021 Wicklow County Council published a housing delivery action plan for the five years to 2026.
On page 3 that included a list of “housing units completed post 2016” for various settlements in the council’s area.
That showed that 165 new housing units had been completed since 2016 in Arklow. The housing stock had been 5,406 in 2016.
There is also clear evidence of construction of what appears to be houses visible on Google Street View.
One development of what appears to be seven homes on Back Street in Arklow appeared to be under construction in Street View images from September 2022.
In the most recent Street View images from May 2023 the construction appears to be complete.
That matches a document from the Government of Ireland which suggests that the site was completed in the third quarter of 2023. That document lists the project as containing seven units.
The document also lists a total of 47 units which were completed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 at Delaney Park on Emoclew Road in Arklow.
This project is also visible on Google Street View images from June 2023. The most recent Street View images from before that date are from May 2009, and show the site as an empty field.
There is also another major construction project on the outskirts of Arklow. This is again visible in Google Street View in June 2023, and appears to be part completed.
This is listed in the Government document as “Heatherside, Vale Road, Arklow”. That document lists different parts of the project on pages 251, 339 and 340.
One of these parts, with three units, was not yet listed as complete at the time the document was published in July 2024.
The other nine parts are listed as having been completed between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2023. Together these add up to 113 units.
Street View images from Vale Road show the houses and a road to access them visible in May 2023. Earlier imagery from April 2019 shows construction at the location, with the access road seemingly being built. Even earlier images from March 2011 show no access road and no houses in the distance.
However, it is not clear if these units all fall in the bounds of Arklow itself. While the Government document lists the Heatherside developments as being in Arklow, the town’s border on Google Maps seems to run across the development, which could leave some of the houses technically outside the town.
A map of the Arklow Number 1 urban electoral division includes the Heatherside development within its borders.
Links
Fine Gael – General election candidates (archived)
Irish Election Literature – Leaflet (archived)
Street View of Back Street in September 2022 (archived)
Street View of Back Street in May 2023 (archived)
Government of Ireland – Social Housing ConstructionProjects, Status Report Q1 2024 (archived)
Street View of Delaney Park project in June 2023 (archived)
Street View of Delaney Park project in May 2009 (archived)
Street View of Vale Street project in June 2023 (archived)
Second Street View of Vale Street project in June 2023 showing construction still in progress (archived)
Government of Ireland – Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report Q1 2024, web page (archived)
Street View from Vale Street in May 2023 (archived)
Street View from Vale Street in April 2019 (archived)
Street View from Vale Street in March 2011 (archived)
Google Maps of the Arklow border (archived)
Townlands.ie – Arklow No 1 Urban Electoral Division, Co. Wicklow (archived)