Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 October 2013
69. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if specific funding is allocated to local authorities to demolish unsafe derelict buildings; if any such funding has been allocated to Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council; and if further funding is planned to allow derelict sites to be put to a community use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43683/13]
View answerUnder the Derelict Sites Act 1990, local authorities are required to take all reasonable steps, including the exercise of appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their functional area does not become or continue to be a derelict site. To this end, they have been given substantial powers under the Act in relation to any such sites, including powers to require specified measures to be taken in relation to a derelict site, to impose a levy on derelict sites, or to compulsorily acquire any derelict site. I expect local authorities to use their statutory powers as they consider appropriate.
Section 23 of this Act provides that a levy may be charged by a local authority on any urban land which is entered on the derelict site register and in respect of which a market value has been determined. This levy must be paid by the owner of the urban land to the local authority in whose functional area the land is situated. The levy is payable until the dereliction ceases.
The National Co-ordination Committee on Unfinished Housing Developments (NCC), which I chair, identified the 1990 Act as a potential legal instrument that could be used by local authorities as part of a range of measures to deal with the problems generated by, for example, unfinished housing developments. Part of the work of the NCC involved an assessment of the adequacy of existing legislation in tackling the issues associated with unfinished housing developments. Its remit was to review legislation such as the Derelict Sites Act 1990; the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act, 1964, the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2010 and the Water Services Act, 2007 with a view to strengthening or amending provisions to take account of the issues associated with unfinished developments. It concluded that the existing legislation was adequate and no amending legislation was necessary.
While I have no plans to amend the Derelict Sites Act at this time, I will keep the need for further legislative reforms to assist local authorities in addressing the issues of dereliction, including unfinished or unoccupied estates, under review.
