Creche left vacant in Wexford for 20 years may finally be converted into residential units following planning submission
Wexford PeopleWexford County Council’s (WCC) inability to convert empty creches into residential properties has once been more raised in County Hall. With developers required to build creches in any new estate which contains 75 houses or more, many of these creches are remaining empty for a number of years due to the prohibitive costs involved in setting up a childcare business.
Explaining the difficulties involved in regulating what is a national policy, WCC executive planner Sonia Hunt told the June meeting of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) that sourcing tenants for creches was dependent on market forces.
“Our planning department can’t force people to come in and occupy those creches,” she said. ”The space is made available for creches and it’s then dependent on the commercial market as to whether someone will come in and occupy it.”
However, with some creches left vacant for up to 20 years, Councillor Aoife Rose O’Brien argued that the onus was on the council to turn empty premises into residential units during one of the worst housing crises in the history of the state.
“There’s a unit sitting down in Portside which has been vacant for the past 20 years, it doesn’t seem like anyone is prioritising this issue,” she said. “We have vacant buildings which aren’t allowed to be used for residential use, if there are vacant buildings in the height of a housing crisis we should be able to grant a planning exemption to allow them to be used for residential purposes.”
“This is national policy, it’s not a local issue,” replied Ms Hunt. “Once the creche has been provided by the developer there’s nothing further we can do as far as I’m aware. It’s down to the commercial market then.”
After the meeting, Cllr O’Brien visited the site at Portside and discovered that a planning application notice had been erected there. It requests permission to develop the vacant units into three residential units (two 2-beds and one 3-bed)) including alterations and extension of the existing building. The application was signed by Karolina Kehoe of O’Driscoll Lynn Architects, Knockenhoy Business Park, Sinnottstown Lane, Wexford.