Vacant Market Place units in Clonmel retail area will be declared derelict sites

Vacant units in the Market Place retail area in Clonmel would be put on the Derelict Sites Register and Remcoll, the company that owns most of the units, would be penalised, it was stated at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

District Administrator Carol Creighton also told the meeting that the planning section of Tipperary County Council hadn’t been given a date for a meeting with Remcoll but she would follow it up.

District Mayor Pat English said that Remcoll had promised before Christmas to meet with the planning section.

Most of the shop units at Market Place are unoccupied, following several shop closures and relocations over the years. These include anchor tenant SuperValu, which closed in January 2016 with the loss of 46 jobs.

Eighteen buildings in the area were sold at a distressed property auction almost ten years ago for €920,000.

County council official Michael Moroney said that derelict sites was an area that would be prioritised not just in Clonmel but throughout the county this year.

In his report to the meeting it was stated that council staff continued to engage with the owners of derelict properties to carry out repairs, and were currently engaging with the owners of 21 properties in the Clonmel Borough District area.

Last year, two properties were removed from the Derelict Sites Register following repair work.

Mr Moroney said that staff provided an opportunity for property owners to carry out work such as painting, and to address structural issues. If there was a reasonable period of time and cooperation the council gave owners the timeframe to rectify the situation before going down the road of declaring a property fully derelict.

The issue of derelict sites had been raised by Cllr Siobhán Ambrose.