Derelict houses in Tubber discussed
COUNCILLORS have called for the issue of two long-term derelict houses in Tubbercurry to be addressed.
Cllr Martin Connolly put a motion before the recent meeting of the Ballymote-Tubbercurry municipal district enquiring about the ownership of 15 and 18 Connolly Park and whether the present owners can be identified. “These houses are in very bad condition. They attract a lot of dumping and unwanted four-legged friends,” he said.
Director of services Dorothy Clarke said that properties are privately owned and that the enforcement section of Sligo County Council has previously identified the owners.
She added that the planning enforcement section will carry out an inspection of the two properties to ascertain their current condition.
Cllr Paul Taylor, who supported the motion, said the state of the houses has been brought to his attention numerous times and that access to number 15 in particular is necessary.
“Myself and Martin Connolly would have got plenty of calls regarding these houses, especially number 15. Access is needed to house 15 to cure a lot of the problems going on there. I know the council barred up the windows which was needed for safety reasons, but access is needed now.” Cllr Michael Clarke asked Dorothy Clarke if there is a government scheme in which the houses could be acquired via a Compulsary Purchase Order (CPO) and bring them back up to reasonable condition for the housing stock. She responded by stating the CPO process can be very drawn out, especially if the original owners have since passed away.
“Using CPO is lengthy and can be challenging because in a lot of cases where there might be disrepair, there could be estate issues relating to the owner or owners passing away leading to an issue of who now owns it.
“We are working towards other houses in relation to CPO to bring them back into housing use. It isn’t easy, but I have spoken with enforcement about these properties and they would originally have been council houses. Our enforcement officer is willing to undertake an inspection, if he hasn’t already, to determine the best course of action might be to bring them back into the housing stock.”
Cllr Dara Mulvey said he is also aware that dumping is a major issue in this location, but pointed out that these addresses could be a “burden” on those in possession of them and may not be able to bring them up to standard.
“We are all aware of the issue that once one bag of rubbish gets thrown in, people think it’s open season and it just gets worse. “Sometimes you have a property that is derelict and ownership is established but the owner doesn’t have the means to do anything with the house. For people who have inherited these houses it costs a lot of money to bring them up to a reasonable standard. Is there some kind of scheme available to them?”
Dorothy Clarke said that she is not aware of any such scheme for private owners.
Cllr Connolly agreed with Cllr Mulvey’s point, stating: “If we could identify the owners maybe they would not be too hard dealt with at this stage. Maybe they don’t even know they own these properties because they go back that far.”