DCC must CPO Player Wills site
Labour General Election candidate for Dublin South Central, Councillor Rebecca Moynihan, has said the Minister for Housing and the Land Development Agency must support Dublin City Council to buy the Player Wills site and keep it in public ownership.
A meeting of Dublin City Council will discuss a motion by Councillor Moynihan tomorrow calling on DCC to CPO the land.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Cllr Moynihan said:
“For over a decade now the Player Wills’ site on the South Circular Road has laid vacant. The site has been passed through the hands of Grant Thornton and NAMA. This site has the potential to have over 500 social and affordable homes, in conjunction with the social housing on St Teresa’s Gardens land but instead the site lies vacant.
“This is valuable land in one of the most accessible parts of Dublin City centre and could provide many good and secure homes for those that need it. Frustratingly, since 2008 no movement has been made on this prime site.
“We know that there are countless numbers of vacant property and land around the country and so many people are rightly angry at the level of vacant properties when so many people are without a home and are priced out of the housing and rental market.
“Getting access to affordable, secure housing and quality rental accommodation is impossible for too many people in my area and right across Dublin. We know that the demand is there for affordable housing, but the State needs to start acquiring appropriate sites like the Player Wills and start building housing along with appropriate community facilities.
“After years of private market failure, we must provide for a new model to tackle the housing crisis and it is time we took radical action to provide our citizens with homes. The Government’s reliance on private developers, and the practice of land speculation, means that enough affordable homes will never be built. The supply crisis can only be sustainably resolved through long-term State action.”
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Motion by Cllr. Rebecca Moynihan This Area Committee agrees that DCC should initiate the process to compulsory purchase the Player Wills’ site on the South Circular Road for cost rental and affordable housing to buy. Since 2008 no movement has taken place on this site and it is now the time for DCC to develop it with cost rental housing and appropriate community facilities.