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[Press Release: September 19th, 2005] De Burca calls on Roche to upgrade Bray Town Council to a Borough CouncilAt a recent meeting of Bray Town Council which was attended by the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, called on the Minister to upgrade Bray to ‘Borough Council’ status."As Chairperson of Bray Town Council I felt I had to appeal to the Minister to make this necessary change to the council’s status" says de Burca. "The Minister is aware that Dunlaoghaire- Rathdown County Council is a Borough Council and this status makes a big difference in terms of the staffing and funding made available to a council". The Green Party councillor claims that having been on Bray Town Council for just over a year, she is aware of the limited budget which the council receives, despite Bray being the biggest town in County Wicklow and also one of the biggest in the country. "Bray Town Council operates on a budget of approximately 10 million euros per year" says de Burca. "It pays approximately 4 million of this back to Wicklow County Council as part of what is known as the County Demand. I don’t believe that Bray gets any real value for this money we pay to Wicklow County Council and yet we keep paying it". Cllr de Burca points out that the Parks Department of Bray Town Council has seven members of staff at present. "I don’t believe that this staffing level is sufficient to provide enough men to plant trees, cut grass, landscape and generally perform many of the outdoor tasks of Bray Town Council" she says. "No wonder the town looks as badly maintained as it does. We really need a significantly increased budget and staffing levels if Bray is ever to pick itself up out of the doldrums commercially". The Chairperson of Bray Town Council has also pointed out that the proposed new 2 billion euro development of Bray Golf Club Lands will significantly increase the size of the town. "We can no longer continue to operate on a shoestring budget on Bray Town Council" she says. "I am calling on Minister Roche to do what is necessary and to upgrade Bray Town Council to a Borough Council while he has the power to do so. His initial reaction to my proposal at the Bray Town Council meeting the other night was not very encouraging but I am sure that on reflection he will realise what a sensible proposal it is".
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