Cork County Council failed to collect any of the €28,000 owed from the Derelict Sites Levy in 2023, a fact which was blamed on a ‘lack of a centralised approach’; another €235,000 of invoices should have been issued during the year by the Council, but were not.
The figures were revealed in the recently published 2023 Statutory Audit Report for Cork County Council.
The Derelict Sites Levy (DSL) requires local authorities to invoice the owners of derelict sites for 7% of the market value of the land concerned.
The audit report found, however, that invoices totalling just €28,000 were issued by the Council in 2023, with none of this money collected.
This resulted in ‘a year-end debtor of €362k’ according to the report, which also stated that a further €235,000 of invoices should have been issued during the year but ‘management advised this was not done due to a lack of a centralised approach across the various municipal districts’.
There are a total of 39 sites across West Cork listed on the Council’s derelict sites register, of which nine are in Bandon including one at 22 McSwiney Quay valued at €350,000.
Of the six formally derelict sites in Kinsale, the most valuable is The Ramparts/Green Hill at €750,000 while at the other end of the scale, a workshop at Barrack Hill was estimated to be worth €50,000.
There are five Bantry properties on the register, and another six in Dunmanway including Gatsby’s nightclub and sites at 3,4, and 5 Castle Street, listed as separate properties.
Four derelict properties are on the list pertaining to Clonakilty including Clarke Street, where one property is valued at €120,000.
Another four are listed in Skibbereen, and four in Macroom, with another single property in Enniskeane.
The market valuation of the sites across West Cork exceeds €5.5m.
Meanwhile, the auditor also made the comment that a a further €843k was not collected from the Vacant Sites Levy, a slightly different penalty that refers to unused sites of more than 0.05 hectares which is suitable for housing, or regeneration land.
The auditor found that the register has sites listed with a combined value of €7.5m and invoices for €525k were issued; €126k was collected during the year
