Kilkenny Councillor calls for action regarding vacant and derelict sites

Councillor John Coonan brought forward a notice of motion at the latest meeting of the county council, encouraging them to take action to address the number of vacant or derelict sites and buildings across Kilkenny city and county.

Cllr Coonan called some of these derelict sites ‘a blight on the fabric of the city and county’ and believes it to be an issue that they ought to take very seriously.

Cllr Coonan brought up a vacant residential site on Father Hayden Road that had been in the same state for as long as he had been living in Pat’s Parish.

He suggested making the owners of these sites aware of the vacant home schemes that may be available to them.

Councillor Andrew McGuinness supported the councillor’s motion but said that it was a ‘complex’ issue with numerous different sets of circumstances.

Cllr McGuinness referenced one site in particular, Hebron House, referring to it as an ‘illegal equine centre and illegal dump’.

Independent councillor Eugene McGuinness also supported the motion and said that he was concerned in particular about the sites in the centre of the city.

He said that it should be incumbent on the site owners to ensure that the front of the sites are kept up to scratch.

Councillor David Fitzgerald said that local authorities don’t seem to be actively pursuing the owners of these sites and wanted to ensure that these site owners respect the community they live within.

Councillor Maria Dollard supported the notice of motion, saying that at the very least, these owners should clean up the sites. 

Director of Services,  Dennis Malone said that the council are pursuing both vacant and derelict properties under seperate pieces of legislation.

Since 2017 the Planning Authority has pursued the collection of vacant site levies. 

“To date the Council has identified in the order of 50 sites under the Vacant sites legislation with 23 sites cancelled from that register through either activation for housing or improvement,” he said. 

The Vacant Sites Levy will be replaced by the residential zoned land tax from 2024 which will be administered by the Revenue Commissioners.

The Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) is a new tax that was introduced in Finance Act 2021. 

It applies to land that is both zoned as suitable for residential development and is serviced. 

The RZLT is an annual tax, which will be first due in 2024 in respect of land which met the relevant criteria on or before January 1, 2022 and which is reflected on the map to be published by local authorities on December 1, 2023.

“Since 2022 we have implemented a strategic approach to tackling derelict sites, in line with the County’s settlement hierarchy, we are pursuing sites in the larger urban areas first (Kilkenny City, the district towns, Ferrybank and Rosbercon) followed by smaller towns and villages,” said Mr Malone.

“We have added an additional 21 sites to the Derelict Sites Register since 2022, bringing the total to 34, up from January 13, 2022,” he added.

Mr Malone said that 20 of these sites have valuations now entered on the Register, and it is intended to value the remainder shortly, in order for the council to be in a position to levy all those sites from January 1, 2024.

He also pointed out that a further six sites are currently subject to notices of intent to be added to the Register.