DCC MUST REMOVE INCENTIVES TO AVOID COMMERCIAL RATES SAYS FORMER LORD MAYOR
Cllr Mary Freehill, former Lord Mayor, and Councillor for Rathmines, said that Dublin City Council’s failure to have the Vacant Site Register completed by January 2017 is absolutely unacceptable.
She and the Labour Councillors are calling on fellow Councillors to support them at Januarys Council meeting in calling on the CEO to make necessary resources immediately available to complete the Register which should be presented in the form of a map on the Council’s website.
From as far back as 2010, Cllr Freehill said, who was then Chair of the Development SPC, DCC has the proud record of highlighting the need for a Vacant Site Levy and we secured the enactment of this legislation by Labour Minister for Environment Alan Kelly in 2015.
“In 2013 the Council identified 64 Hectares of vacant sites in the city (27 ha vacant sites only (excluding buildings) 21 Ha currently not paying rates and 16 Ha not paying a rate and not having the benefit of a valid planning permission).
“Many land owners are sitting on parcels of land around the city waiting for them to increase in value.
“The principal of a site Levy is to make it too costly not to develop.
“Now more than ever we need these lands to be developed for badly needed housing.
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Mary can be contacted at 086 8126378