On 19th June 2015 Minister Alan Kelly established the Waterford Boundary Committee and tasked it to review the boundary between Waterford City & County and Kilkenny County Council.
The committee’s focus is on an area of approximately 2,834ha (7,000 acres) containing approximately 7,000 people extending from Aglish, Kilmacow to Rathpatrick, Slieverue.
The proposed boundary alteration would have significant negative consequences for Kilkenny businesses and people both now and into the future:
- Loss of current Rates income (approx. €2.1million annually representing 11% of the total rates for Kilkenny).
- Loss of current Local Property Tax income (approx. €412,000 per annum).
- Loss of future Rates income from potential industrial development in the area.
- Loss of future LPT from new housing developments in the area.
- Such loss of income would seriously hamper the performance of Kilkenny Co Co going forward.
- The people and communities in the area will not benefit and do not want changes that impact on the identity, heritage and culture of individual counties. Their commitment to their area revolves around family, history, sporting activity and culture and the proposed boundary alteration would be very damaging in this context.
The South East Region has many ongoing challenges which can best be dealt with by adopting an approach of cooperation and pooling of resources between all the people of Kilkenny and Waterford and the South East in general. Changing the boundary is not a solution and instead would be divisive, disruptive and costly.
Your opinion on this issue is important. Ensure your voice is heard. Send your submission to the Boundary Committee before 15th January 2016.
FEEL FREE TO DOWNLOAD AND USE THE SUGGESTED WORDINGS BELOW IN OUR SAMPLE LETTERS:
BOUNDARY LETTER 1, BOUNDARY LETTER 2,
BOUNDARY LETTER 3, BOUNDARY LETTER 4, BOUNDARY LETTER 5
Submissions can be made on line at http://www.waterfordboundaryreview.ie via the submissions page,
by email: boundaryreview@waterfordcouncil.ie Or by hard copy to:
The Secretariat, Waterford Boundary Review, c/o KCC, County Hall, John Street, Kilkenny, R95 A39T or
The Secretariat, Waterford Boundary Review, City Hall, Waterford, X91 PK15.