Minister urges Mayo county council to ‘be ambitious’ in housing drive

Housing Minister James Browne has called on Mayo County Council to accelerate housing delivery, promising Government backing if the local authority pushes ahead with rezoning and supply.

The Minister was in the county today on a whistle-stop tour, beginning in Ballina where he turned the sod at The Meadows housing development, before moving on to Mulranny to officially open 19 new social housing units.

He also visited Westport to open further homes and stopped in Tourmakeady to announce the upgrading of the Lough Mask water treatment plant.

Speaking in Mulranny, Minister Browne praised Mayo County Council for its work to date but said more must be done to meet demand.

“I want to back ambitious counties. I want Mayo to be ambitious in terms of delivering homes, also in terms of rezoning. That is massively important,” he said.

The minister stressed that increasing the supply of zoned land is critical to reducing costs.

“We need more land zoned for homes so we can have competition to drive down land prices, to make properties cheaper for people to live in… so developers can deliver more cheaply for them as well.”

He added that he believes Mayo has both the leadership and the capacity to rise to the challenge.

“If Mayo is ambitious and I believe they are, I’ve spoken with the CEO and I think they have that level of ambition,” he said.

Minister Browne also acknowledged the heavy administrative workload facing councils and pledged to work with local authorities to ensure they have the resources to speed up the delivery process.