‘Where we can’t get co-operation, we have to get formal’...Council moving to address dereliction issue

With the Government keen to breathe new life into towns though various schemes dedicated to tackling dereliction and encouraging property owners to return these vacant buildings to use, another tool that can be used where property owners fail to co-operate is the statutory process under the Derelict Sites Act.

While Meath Co Council endeavours to engage with property owners, where they refuse to co-operate, the Council will go down the statutory route and in some cases it will ultimately end in a Compulsory Purchase Order being issued.

Following on from our recent two page spread on the issue of dereliction in Meath and efforts to address it, this week attention turns to Trim town and the villages in the Trim Municipal District.

In an update to Trim councillors at their March meeting, Pat Shore of Meath Co Council outlined that a total of 32 derelict sites were investigated in the Trim Municipal District area from 2019 to 2022 with seven of these now on the Derelict Sites Register.

Of the 32 sites investigated, 18 were resolved while seven others are ongoing, and councillors were told that Meath Co Council endeavours to engage with derelict site owners and it is only if there is no co-operation that they begin the statutory process.

This process, which can ultimately end with the property being acquired through Compulsory Purchase Order, begins with a notice of intention to add the site to the Derelict Sites Register being issued and another notice is then issued when it has been added to the Register.

A Section 11 notice follows requesting that works be carried out and if this is not complied with a notice of intention to compulsory acquire is the next step with the last being the vesting order when the site has been compulsory purchased. Getting to the stage of compulsory purchase can be a lengthy process and it is dealt with by An Bord Pleanala.

Councillors were also told that the levy on derelict properties on the folio has been increased from three per cent to seven per cent and that this financial burden strengthens the Derelict Sites Act.

The sites currently on the register in Trim include 15 and 16 Haggard Street which were added in August 2019. They are now in council ownership and are going through a part eight process to be refurbished and added to the council's social housing list.

Roach Mall, Longwood, was added in October 2021; The Steps on Emmet Street, added in February 2022; a property on Main Street Longwood was added in April last year; a property on Navangate, Trim, was last May. The most recent property on the register is in Kiltale and was added in December.

Councillors heard the properties at Main Street, Longwood, and Navangate, Trim, are currently for sale and may be resolved through that process.

In his update, Pat Shore outlined that one of the challenges can be trying to find the owner, and that sometimes the owner may be elderly and in a nursing home. Another challenge when they do identify an owner is that they may be unwilling to carry out works and then if they do go down the CPO route, it can be a slow process, especially if it is objected to.

Director of Service Martin Murray told how the council tries to engage and co-operate with property owners and it is only when this fails that they go down the statutory process and have to get formal.

He added that the levy on derelict properties has gone from three per cent to seven percent and that "putting that financial burden on the folio is a very strong method of moving those properties along".

Cllr Ronan Moore said that local tidy towns groups are always looking to try to progress vacant and derelicts sites and are very knowledgeable on the ground and it may be useful to tie in with these groups, which would also benefit their Tidy Towns applications.

Cllr Aisling Dempsey and Cllr Trevor Golden questioned how long the average wait is for a site to come into council ownership and were told that it is a very difficult question to answer. Cllr Golden also queried if any properties had progressed on to being deemed dangerous structures, such as in the cases where the roof was not stable or windows were broken. He was told that this is dealt with under another Act.

Cllr Noel French said he was hugely concerned that in a number of villages, like Longwood and Ballivor, there are sites that have been sitting there for a long time and they give the town or village a "bit of a rundown look".

"There may be a row of smart buildings on one side, and then a row rundown on the other. It needs to be addressed and we need to be imaginative with regards to what we do with these derelict sites.

"There were about nine derelict sites in Ballivor ten years ago, now there are four left and three have planning, so we are down to one. It transforms a village when you have people living and maintaining buildings on the main street and approach roads."

Councillors were told that there is a full time derelict sites inspector in the council since 2019 who will investigate sites when they are brought to his attention but doesn't actively go looking for them.

Any councillors with concerns about dereliction were told they could forward on the details and they would be looked at.