Significant drop in the number of unfinished estates

CORK County Council does not have a “magic wand” that it can use to resolve all of the issues surrounding unfinished estates across the county.

That’s according to James Fogarty, the manager of the authority’s northern division, who was commenting on a report compiled by senior planner Andrew Hind given to councillors at the November meeting.

However, the report did contain welcome news with Mr Hind saying that a combination of the upturn in the housing market and the threat of legal action in “problematic cases” was “bearing fruit” in relation to resolving the problem.

The report revealed that between 2010 and the present day the number of ghost estates across Cork County has been reduced from 286 to 81, with Mr Hind saying he expected that number to fall below 60 by the end of the year.

In North Cork the number of ghost estates had dropped from 81 to 33 over the same period, with Mr Hind saying he anticipated that would drop below 20 by the end of 2016.

“The overall reduction has been a little slower in North Cork because the housing market has not picked up as quickly there as it has in other areas,” said Mr Hind.

“There are strong signs that is improving rapidly and we expect to deliver significant inroads on this issue over the coming 12-months. 2017 will be a big year in relation to this issue for North Cork,” he added.

Mr Hind said the council had put in place a dedicated set of ‘resolution strategies’ to address the problem, one of those being the dive to reclaim bonds held by financial institutions paid over by developers.

He said six cases had been sent to the county solicitor and the threat of legal action had brought respective bond-holders to the table for talks.

When released, these bonds will cover remedial works to footpaths, lighting sewage schemes etc allowing the council to take them in charge.

“This has borne fruit and settlement offers are now being received,” said Mr Hind.

He said that due to the upturn in the housing market some receivers were now selling off unfinished estates to new buyers, which was helping the situation.

“Our key strategy is to resolve issues through resolution with developers and receivers. The big sea change is that improving markets are making this process easier,” said Mr Hind.

While councillors gave the report a broad welcome, many cited individual estates where they felt progress on site resolutions was moving a too slow a pace.

Among them were Cllrs Bernard Moynihan and Timmy Collins, who raised queries about estates in Boherbue and Lismire.

Mr Hind said works had been undertaken in both estates and the council was working to resolutions at other estates in Fermoy, Mallow, Castletownroche and Kilbrin.

While Mr Hind was positive about future progress on the issue, Mr Fogarty warned it would still take time to resolve some issues.

“We do not have a magic wand we can wave. Yes it can be a frustrating process, so I would ask for your support and patience,” he said.

“We will come back to you in due course with further progress reports,” he added.