This article is from page 35 of the 2008-04-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 35 JPG
KILRUSH town councillor Collie Sweeney (Ind) believes it is time for owners of derelict buildings in the west Clare capital to clean up their ATOR
Cllr Sweeney told the March meet- ing of the council that the time is right to get owners to clean up these derelict houses or the council will use its power under the Derelict Sites aoe
When the town council adopted the Kilrush Town Development Plan it was agreed that derelict sites would be receiving special attention during
the lifetime of the plan.
Cllr Sweeney said that he noticed that the Tidy Town’s report for Kil- rush also pointed to the negative im- pact of the derelict sites.
“This is a warning call only to owners of derelict sites to do some- thing about them. This council has been ignoring this issue for far too long,” he said.
Senior Staff Officer with Kilrush Town Council, Siobhan O’Keeffe confirmed that there are now five sites on the Kilrush Town Council Derelict Sites Register.
Under of the Derelict Sites Act 1990, each local authority is obliged
to maintain a Derelict Sites Register.
In November 2005, Kilrush Town Council submitted a nomination form to the Department of the En- vironment, Heritage and _ Local Government for the entire Kilrush Town Council boundary area to be prescribed as an Urban Area by the Minister under section 21 of the Der- elict Sites Acct.
In November 2007, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government confirmed this nomination.
The nomination of an Urban Area means that Kilrush Town Council can now charge or levy a derelict
sites levy on the owner or occupier of any of the derelict sites entered on the Derelict Sites Register where the market value has been determined.
“It 1s now proposed to prioritise the five entries on the Derelict Sites Register, proceed to determine the market value of each site and impose a derelict sites levies on the owner or occupier to take any other action as possible under the relevant sections of the Derelict Sites Act.
“Over the next three months a com- plete audit of sites in the town will also be carried out and sites will be added or removed from the register as appropriate,’ Ms O’ Keeffe said.