Landowners warned Council will be watching vacant sites

“WE’LL be keeping an eye on you and taking action.”

That’s the message from Sligo County Councillor Chris MacManus to landowners sitting on vacant sites around Sligo.

He had asked for an update on what progress had been made to establish and maintain a Vacant Sites Register for the county at the July Council meeting.

He was told that the Council is currently laying the legal groundwork to set up the Register.

Some survey work has already been done. Once vacant sites have been identified they will be included in the next Sligo and Environs Local Area Plan and may be included in other Local Area Plans down the line.

The Council will then add sites to the Register as they come up.

Cllr MacManus welcomed the news and the fact that the Council was “being proactive.”

Acknowledging it was a relatively new process, he said the Register would ensure vacant sites were not being used by owners.

“We know here locally that there are a couple of places in Sligo where land are ready for development but are lying idle, such as in Strandhill,” he told the meeting.

“It has potential so that we can come after these property owners who hoard with a 3 per cent levy after 2019,” he said.

“The message here today that any owners thinking that they can sit on land – we’ ll be keeping an eye on you and taking action,” he added.

There are many vacant sites around Sligo in places such as Strandhill, as seen from the sky above.