Kildare County Council 'should fix homes rater than build new ones'

A Naas politician has urged Kildare County Council to, where possible, repair existing holes rather than build new ones.

Cllr Bill Clear wants KCC to list all vacant and derelict properties in the county to see where these can be reused for  residential, commercial or community purposes.

He said the owners should be informed about any grants that are available for reconstruction.

“Dereliction and vacancy is an issue in all towns and it’s striking how bad the situation is,” he told a KCC meeting on January 31.

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He added: “It’s better to fix an existing house than build a new one. Lands and houses should be registered, but many are not.”.

Cllr Clear cited the examples of the former Cemex plant in Naas where no action has been taken on a disused site.

He also called for a register of derelict sites which is accessible.

Cllr Joe Neville said that there is a difference between dereliction and vacant and he said that KCC owns the largest derelict site in County Kildare, which is in Leixlip (the former ESB site).

He said there is  a need for lists of derelict or vacant sites to be widened in scope because at the moment a building needs to be falling apart before it goes on to the derelict sites list.

KCC official Annette Aspell said that vacant residential sites are inspected with a view to identifying possible vacant recoverable homes and the registered owners. The council will provide advice and assistance to help bring vacant homes back into use and once an owner is contacted they are made aware of the options available to assist in bringing their properties back to use - either privately or for social housing purposes. A compulsory purchase order can be considered by the council.

Since 2018 some 400 inspections have been carried out and of these 135 were recorded as potentially vacant and further searches were carried out to establish ownership. Where possible owners were contacted.

The meeting heard that the vacancy rate in County Kildare is 2% and the national rate is 4.5% - while a base vacancy rate of 6% is normally expected in a properly functioning market to allow for renovations, and changing ownerships or tenants.

Derelict sites are identified in accordance with legislation and KCC can either work with the owner to improve the situation or serve a legal notice requiring works to be done - and the council may progress this through the courts.

The council can compulsorily acquire but this a rare event because it can expose the council to financial risk.

Some of the issues that can hamper a resolution include ownership disputes, financial hardship or estate issues following inheritance.

Another contributor to the problem is the fallout from the Celtic Tiger period when many commercial ventures went awry.