Writes Leo McMahon
‘I’m so frustrated’, said Cllr Marcia D’Alton (Ind) at the monthly meeting of Carrigaline Municipal District (MD) when complaining about what she regarded as the lack of energy by the county council in tackling derelict sites.
In a motion, she again called on the MD office to identify: 1) properties on the Derelict Sites Register (DSR) in the MD; 2) the length of time each property has been on the DSR; 3) levies owed for each property on the DSR; 4) the frequency of correspondence with the owner of each property; 5) the number of properties for which the council has drawn up a list of works under Section 32(1) of the 1990 Derelict Sites Act in the past five years and 6) the number of properties in (5) for which such specified works have been carried out.
She also had a motion requesting that Dock Terrace and the dock offices in Passage West be added to the DSR.
In a report, MD officer Denise Kidney said the council’s town regeneration officer was currently working on the strategy for derelict sites. ‘The MD will collate the requested information and share with the elected members once all the information has been obtained’.
With regard to the motion about the sites in Passage West, she said the DSR was being updated and options for action under the Derelict Sites Act were being examined.
Cllr D’Alton said she had been pressing for Dock Terrace and the dock offices to be surveyed and added to the register for as long as she could remember and couldn’t understand why it was taking so long, adding that Dock Terrace had been boarded up for many years and guttering guttering on the office was hanging loose over the street.
Regarding her first motion, she said she had been very patient about derelict sites, having regard to the fact that in March 2022, the then chief executive of the council said tackling dereliction in town centres throughout the county would be a priority.
‘At that time, the commitment was to actively address the issue quarterly at MD meetings yet the last one about derelict sites was in May 2023 and this too was organised only after many requests. What I’m seeking in my motion is straightforward and is required by the the 1990 Act to be publicly available. I’m so frustrated by the lack of progress on this’, said Cllr D’Alton.
Seconding, Cllr Seamus McGrath (FF) said he shared Cllr D’Alton’s frustration. The council was going in the right direction with more activity than there was five or ten years ago with follow-ups by the property activation unit in what could be complex issues in some cases. He agreed however, that there was need for more reports on actions going forward because there were lots of vacant and derelict buildings across the MD, not just in Passage West.
Cllr D’Alton said she acknowledged the work involved but simply requested an update.
An cathaoirleach, Cllr Audrey Buckley (FF) concurred saying she also wanted to know what was happening regarding dereliction in villages in the MD.
Senior executive office Maurice Murphy said the MD office was confirming accuracy of the list. It was nearly there, and the members would then be briefed. New staff may need to be assigned to a dedicated area for this and he hoped to have more information for the next meeting.
Cllr D’Alton asked that members also be told what properties if any have been subject to the derelict sites levy, information on same and what if any was owed and paid on each property because all properties on the DSR were subject to the levy. Both her motions were unanimously adopted.
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