Limerick City and County Council has signalled a significant step up in its efforts to tackle dereliction with the publication this week of 37 Compulsory Purchase Orders notices for sites in Rathkeale.
The CPO notices include 33 houses in an unfinished and unoccupied housing estate at Ballywilliam, Rathkeale that has been derelict for several years, as well as buildings in Main Street and Lower Main Street in the town.
Earlier this year Limerick City and County Council secured €2.5 million in funding from the Rural Regeneration & Development Fund (RRDF) to tackle dereliction in the five Limerick towns of Rathkeale, Abbeyfeale, Bruff, Askeaton and Ardagh. This is being viewed as a pilot project nationally and was the largest sum awarded to any project in the funding call.
Since setting up a dedicated Derelict Sites department just over 2 years ago, Limerick City and County Council has become one of the most proactive local authorities in the country in dealing with vacant and derelict property and has published around 100 CPOs in this timeframe.
High profile sites that have been resolved include the Horizon Mall site in Castletroy.
Director of Community Development with Limerick City and County Council, Gordon Daly said: “The quality of life available in our smaller towns and villages and the increased opportunities to work from home creates a strong opportunity to use vacant and derelict properties as affordable housing and help regenerate our town and village centres.”
“Limerick City and County Council is fully committed and resourced to see through a comprehensive action plan to deal with dereliction right across the city and county and we would strongly encourage owners of derelict properties to act. Tackling dereliction is a priority for the elected members of the Council and the communities they represent including tidy towns groups and other community development organisations.”
Mr Daly also confirmed that the Council would also commence the compulsory acquisition of a number of other derelict properties in the city and county over the coming weeks, bringing to over 100 the number of CPOs published in the past two years.
He said: “The Council is now conducting almost 100 derelict property inspections per month and that there has been a five-fold increase in the number of properties on the derelict sites register since 2018. The Council is also using its powers under derelict sites legislation to levy derelict properties annually at 7% of their market value.
In relation to Limerick city centre, Mr Daly pointed to the significant public and private sector investment underway in Limerick and stated “In order to further drive the regeneration of the city it is essential that there is a robust approach to dealing with derelict properties in tandem with this investment”.