Derelict property owners in Mayo 'will be pursued'

Compulsory purchase of vacant homes and derelict properties will be pursued in cases where owners do not engage with the council to bring them back into residential use, according to the Head of Castlebar Municipal District.

Responding to a query from Cllr Harry Barrett as to what had happened to €2 million from the Urban Renewal Development Fund allocated for Castlebar, Westport and Ballina for residential regeneration, David Mellett stated: “It is a very specific scheme and this funding is to acquire vacant and derelict properties and then effectively flip them for housing. In the first instance, we get a valuation and then try to negotiate a price but if the owner is not engaging, we go down the CPO [compulsory purchase order] route."

Mr Mellett said 24 properties were identified in Castlebar but just four ended up being suitable for the scheme. 

"The owners say they are being developed but we are going back every three to four months to check on this and if nothing is happening we will look at CPO. At the same time, we don’t want 24 houses we wouldn’t have the money to bring back into use.” 

Cllr Barrett said the scheme seemed “a bit too vague for my liking, with the serious housing issue we have in the town and all the vacant property around”. 

“I would like a bit of information on each and every property and would not like for people to think that because we are engaging with them that we will be any easier on them when it comes to dereliction. It is their responsibility to make sure that property is taken out of dereliction. We must ensure people are not sitting on a property and are seriously reminded of their responsibility here.” 

Mr Mellett advised that a number of derelict site levies had also been issued in recent months and that: “We haven’t gone down the route of charging a levy to the properties yet.”