Fears owners of derelict properties in Wexford are pulling ‘a stunt’ by putting them up for sale

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Over 70 derelict properties in New Ross are to be brought back into use as part of Wexford County Council’s (WCC) plans to increase housing supply in the town. Under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) the council can acquire properties which have been placed on the derelict sites register and then place them on the open market.

Currently, there are 193 such properties in Co Wexford, 71 of which are in New Ross, and WCC has been granted €6.5m to purchase them from their owners.

At the February meeting of the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD) senior planner Tom Banville provided an update on the process involved and how he and his department were tackling dereliction in the town.

“We are actively pursuing the owners of those 71 properties and asking them to either bring the property back into use or put it up for sale,” he said. “If they don’t do either of those we will look to issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO).”

In a sign of how successful their efforts have been thus far, Mr Banville said it was “noticeable” how many for sale signs were on display in New Ross.

However, Councillor Michael Sheehan was sceptical.

“Is that a stunt?” he said of the for sale signs. “A way to almost shield the owners from the pressure being applied by the council? There are a lot of properties on the Quay which are in an appalling condition. An auctioneer’s sign shouldn’t deter us from going heavy on them.”

Arguing that, once a property was up for sale, there wasn’t much more the council could do, Mr Banville said there were grants available to assist owners of derelict properties to bring them back into use.

But it has certainly been a problem in New Ross where owners have been sitting on properties and not doing anything with them

“The focus is to bring back properties into residential use, the means of doing that is either through CPO or putting the property on the market,” he said. “They’re the powers we have. I’m not sure what else we can do. But it has certainly been a problem in New Ross where owners have been sitting on properties and not doing anything with them.”

Once a property is added to the derelict sites register its owner must pay an annual levy of 7 pc of its value. And Cllr Sheehan was keen to ensure this tax was applied.

“If it’s up for sale, do they still have to pay levies?” he asked.

“If it’s still derelict at the end of the calendar year the levy will be applied,” replied Mr Banville.

At this juncture, Cllr John Fleming, an auctioneer by trade, explained that having an unwanted property on the market benefitted no-one.

“If you register a property for sale you must pay a fee, no auctioneer wants a property that can’t sell or won’t sell,” he said before offering a reason as to why some properties weren’t selling. “We have to remember that New Ross is an old town and a lot of the sites are structurally dangerous and not sound.”

Pursuing the owners of derelict sites and bringing them to task was at the forefront of Cllr Bridín Murphy’s mind.

“With sites that are being investigated but are not yet on the register, how long do we typically allow for owner engagement before we move to the next step?" she asked. “The public see these old buildings and feel that nothing is happening, and it’s undermining confidence in the system.

"Do we have any mechanism to accelerate the process with buildings in the town centre? Driving in today I saw derelict buildings which have been that way since I was elected, even since Cllr Sheehan was elected.”

Mr Banville explained that, once a file is opened on a site, its owner is issued with a warning letter telling them WCC intends to put the property on the register.

"We give owners four weeks to engage. If they engage we try to be reasonable with them and give them a list of actions they can take to render it non-derelict. If they follow those instructions the case will go no further.”

One case which appears likely to go further regards a “notorious, well-known” property in the Hook which Cllr Marty Murphy enquired about.

“It’s been on our radar for a number of years and is on the derelict sites register, it has been issued with a levy,” replied Mr Banville. “There has been engagement with the owner, but we’re getting close to issuing a CPO.”