New Bray Municipal District Council should include areas of Bray which are in Co.Dublin

Wicklow Sinn Féin County Councillor John Brady has welcomed the
support he received at a recent Bray area meeting of Wicklow County
Council, to make a submission to the newly established Local Electoral
Area Boundary Committee. He received unanimous support to send a
submission asking to have areas of north Bray incorporated into the
new municipal district of the greater Bray area once its established
in 2014. Areas such as Corke Abbey and Old Connaught Avenue are
marginally over the county boundary and are currently administered by
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

Speaking after the meeting Cllr Brady said "I am delighted that i
received unanimous agreement to make a submission to the newly formed
Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee which has been set up by Phil
Hogan. The Minister has said that the establishment of the Committee
is an important next step in implementing the Action Programme for
Effective Local Government and in reforming local government
structures. The review will have a specific goal of achieving a much
better balance and consistency in representational ratios, while
taking particular account of factors such as the location of towns in
the new municipal governance arrangement. Under the changes which are
due to come into effect in 2014 Bray Town Council will cease to exist
and a new municipal district will be created. It makes sense that the
Little Bray area that's currently in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County
Council area would be managed and controlled by the new municipal
district made up of the greater Bray area"

Cllr Brady continued "I have been trying now for a number of years to
get the Bray Town boundaries extended so the one council would have
control of areas such as the Southern Cross Rd, Old Connaught Ave and
Corke Abbey areas of Little Bray. Currently Bray is controlled by
three different councils, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Wicklow County
Council and Bray Town council and this has created many problems in
areas such as planning, maintenance and basic joined up thinking. This
current arrangement has served residents in many areas poorly and
needs to be addressed and i believe the  Local Electoral Area Boundary
Committee have an opportunity now to solve this problem once and for
all"

The Wicklow Councillor went onto say "People living in the Little Bray
areas of Corke Abbey and Old Connaught Ave have a natural affinity to
Bray even though they live marginally over the County Boundary in
Dublin. Residents of these areas have a greater association with Bray
than they do with Dun Laoghaire, they school, shop, socialise, and
even go to mass in Bray and unfortunately because they are so far away
from Dun Laoghaire receive very little help from the council there. As
a Councillor i even get a lot of people in those areas asking for my
assistance on issues even though its outside my electoral area"

"The Minister has asked the new committee to report to him as soon as
possible and in any event no later than 31 May 2013. The committee
will make recommendations on local electoral area boundaries in the
context of the results of census 2011 and the Action Programme for
Effective Local Government published on 16 October 2012. In
recommending changes to local electoral areas, the Committee has been
asked to take due account of local and community identities and i
believe the communities identity in Little Bray needs to be taken into
account. The Bray area Councillors on Wicklow County County Wicklow
agreed with me on this issue and it was agreed that a submission would
be made to the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee" concluded Cllr
Brady.