Owners of derelict sites in Enniscorthy threatened with compulsory purchase orders if they don’t return properties to residential use

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Owners of derelict properties in Enniscorthy are being threatened with compulsory purchase orders (CPO) if they don’t return the buildings to residential use or sell them to someone who will.

Providing an update on the number of derelict sites in the town, senior planner with Wexford County Council (WCC) Tom Banville said there are currently 24 properties on the derelict sites register in Enniscorthy with a further 30 sites under investigation,

Mr Banville was speaking at the monthly meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD) where Councillor Jackser Owens immediately queried the status of a long-term derelict property.

“I have mentioned 34 Island Road on a number of occasions, it has been idle for over 20 years,” he said. “I’m constantly hearing in Daíl debates that there’s plenty of money for derelict sites so why aren’t we out there buying them? Why have we got so many derelict sites in Enniscorthy?”

"34 Island Road was acquired by WCC via CPO,” replied Mr Banville. “It was subsequently put on the market, and bought. It has a new owner and we will allow them time to bring it back into use. It is a big challenge for them so we will be engaging with them on it. As for the other sites, there’s ongoing engagement with all the property owners on the derelict sites register.

“Where’s there no engagement – if we can’t find the owner or they don’t reply to our correspondence – we go through the process as quickly as possible, we’ll issue a levy and apply for a CPO.”

Cllr Pat Kehoe was keen to know how long property owners were given before the council stepped in and acquired derelict sites.

“If the owner engages with us and we can see they’re making an effort we’ll give them time to return it to use,” replied Mr Banville. “It’s hard to give a specific time, whether it be three months or six months, if there’s ongoing engagement we’ll give them some leeway.”

With €6.5m available to WCC to acquire homes via CPO, Cllr Aidan Browne requested a breakdown on how much of this money had been spent per district.

“There hasn’t been a huge spend on this because most of the success has come from encouraging owners to put the property on the market,” replied Mr Banville. “Threatening to issue a CPO often forces them to put it on the market. Once it’s sold there’s a clause in the contract which states that a property must be returned to residential use 24 months after its purchase, if that doesn’t happen we can recommence the CPO process. We haven’t had to do that yet.”

For Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy the question of what constitutes dereliction was at the forefront of her mind.

“If you simply paint a property does it come off the list?” she asked. “Do we assess its suitability by just looking at the front of the building?”

With strict criteria in place, Mr Banville explained that many vacant buildings were not necessarily considered derelict.

“If a property looks the same as every other property on the street but it’s known to be vacant, it might not be considered derelict,” he said. “If it’s not detracting from the area but it’s vacant there’s not a lot we can do about it. It’s a private property and the owner can do what they like with it. But we do examine the front and rear of a property and look out for things like overgrown gardens and broken windows.”

If the threat of a CPO is not enough to force property owners to put buildings onto the market, then the 7 pc annual levy applied to derelict sites may give them the additional push required.

“When does that levy kick in?” asked Cllr Kehoe who queried whether 7 pc offered enough “incentive” for owners to sell.

Under the Derelict Sites Act, once a property has been valued by the local authority, a levy of 7 pc of that valuation is applied at the end of each calendar year. And, as Mr Banville explained, that tax added up with each passing year.

“The 7 pc is a depreciation of the value of the property, and it’s applied every year so it very quickly reduces the value of the property.”