Ballina Town Council is actively pursuing the owners of derelict sites in the town and levying a charge against the buildings when the owners do not comply with orders against them, the monthly meeting of Ballina Town Council was told.
Town clerk Carmel Murphy told the meeting there were 22 registered derelict sites in the town, another 23 suspected derelict sites, five sites which had compulsory purchase orders placed on them by the council, and 10 sites that had been removed from the list because works were being carried out on them.
When asked by Independent councillor Gerry Ginty if rates were due on the sites, Ms Murphy told him: “There aren’t rates due on them as there is no business taking place on the sites, but there is a charge of three per cent of the value put against them every year that they remain derelict and the council is pursuing them through their legal advisors.”
Independent councillors Mary Kelly asked why No 1 and No 2 Mount Assumpta were not on the list of derelict sites, as she had raised the issue of those sites constantly over the past number of years. Town engineer Michael O’Grady told her: “We didn’t include those two houses as we are getting ready to demolish them inside the next couple of weeks, and we felt it was better to leave them off the list.” Cllr Kelly welcomed the news that the two houses were to be demolished.
