This article is from page 2 of the 2008-02-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
HOUSE-BUYERS across Clare are facing massive hikes in house prices arising from contentious new Clare County Council charges.
Yesterday, council officials unveiled new draft proposals that would result in development levies increasing from less than €5,000 to €21,360, a 400 per cent rise.
House builders constructing homes on unzoned land who currently pay €4,180 will have to fork out a levy of €12,456 under the council’s Devel- opment Contribution Scheme 2008- 2011.
Those seeking to build holiday homes are facing a 300 per cent levy
increase from €9,500 to €27,050 per home.
The council imposed the levies on house builders to finance water, sew- erage, road and community infra- structure. They must be paid before houses are occupied.
The council is proposing the in- creases in order to raise €105 mil- lion to pay for new infrastructure across the county between 2008 and 2011, according to the draft docu- ment published yesterday,
The new charges came under fire yesterday. Ennis-based auctioneer, Philip O’Reilly describes the pro- posed hikes as “incredible”.
“This is a conspiracy against the first time buyer, builders, employers.
How are these figures justified when it takes six weeks to see a planner?”
At the council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) for Planning yes- terday, Cllr Patrick Keane (FF) said, ‘These charges place on unfair bur- den on young couples wishing to construct a new home.
“IT can’t see why new home builders are the only ones to pay for roads and water where everyone will benefit.”
SPC chairman, Cllr Richard Nagle said, “I think that we are all agreed that the charges are unfair.
‘This is a policy foisted upon us by the Department of the Environment and its water pricing policy and they have passed the problem on to the council.”
Cllr Keane said that it was now important that the council came up with an alternative way to raise the money.
According to the draft document, €34 million has been collected in the existing scheme covering 2004 and 2007.
Senior council official Monica Meehan said that the proposed €12,456 charge for homes in un- zoned land would not apply in most cases as house builders would be covering water and sewerage costs themselves.
Cllr Nagle told the meeting that the charges would not be agreed at the SPC but would go before the coun- GIMME Kes mestccnnitee