Empty does not mean derelict - Council boss

THERE was disagreement at last week’s corough council meeting over whether the unoccupied Great Southern Hotel in Rosslare Harbour constitutes a derelict building or not.

Cllr. Ger Carthy wanted to know if it is on the Derelict Sites Register and whether levies are being imposed on the owner.

Senior planner James Lavin said the Council has received a valuation on the property as a first step in the process.

‘Empty does not mean derelict. It needs to be unsightly and unkempt’, Cllr. Carthy was told by Deputy Chief Executive Tony Larkin who outlined generally the stages in dealing with dere- lict properties and the planned increase in the fine imposed to 7% of the value of a property.

‘The valuation is based on the market valuation and an owner can contest it if he disagrees. Once an annual levy is imposed, you can pursue it as a contract debt but usually you would let it accumulate and apply it as a charge to the property. Usually you don’t get attention in the first year but by the third year, you usually do, when the owner realises you own 10% of the property’, he said.

‘The Great Southern Hotel meets all the criteria. It’s going on for years now and nothing has been done’, said Cllr. Carthy.

‘There is an objective test that needs to be done’, Mr. Larkin informed him.

‘When we dealt with it the last time, it was repaired and re-painted and made attractive again and that was enough to keep it off the Derelict Sites Register’, he said.

Cllr. George Lawlor said ‘there is no question in my mind that the Great Southern Hotel is a derelict site’.

‘We are spending money on village renewal in Rosslare and if we don’t deal with these derelict sites we are wasting money’, he said. Cllr. David Hynes asked if the Council ever uses the powers at its disposal under the Derelict Sites legislation and was told by Mr. Lavin that it has been used a few times. Mr. Larkin said he would be fairly certain that at least 40 sites in the county have been placed on the Derelict Sites Register in the past 12 months.