Louth County Council audit report flags lack of site inspections
Report says inspections are necessary to fully keep up to date with development contribution invoicing
An audit report carried out on Louth County Council’s Annual Financial Statement for 2021 has recommended that the council step up site inspections to keep fully up to date with development contribution invoicing.
Development Levies are charged on new building developments within the county with the money collected used to fund public infrastructure and services.
Levies are spent according to the Development Contribution Scheme set out by the Council.
The report noted that some payment plans with developers are based on completing developments in phases and therefore site inspections are necessary to identify if construction has commenced on these for the purpose of invoicing / collection of contributions due.
The report further stated that:
“Inspections are also necessary to identify cases where commencement notices have been received from developers; however, the planning permissions to which they relate have since expired.”
At the end of 2021 in Louth, 44 site inspections were outstanding for completion with none having been completed in the year.
A total of €4.96m in development contributions were collected by the Council in 2021.
In the report a review of arrears noted that €626k of contributions related to planning permissions which were superseded by new permissions and therefore, should not be included as arrears were included in the Annual Financial Statement, with the report adding:
“This was not corrected in the AFS. This does not affect the income and expenditure account.”
In her response, which was included in the report, Chief Executive of Louth County Council Joan Martin said:
“In order for the development contribution scheme to work, ongoing site inspections of all developments are not normally required, nor would the Council have the resources to carry it out.
“Aside from our own invoicing and reminder system, non-payments are normally highlighted when due diligence on conveyancing is being done on the sale of properties.
“A monthly work programme involving the finance and planning sections has been put in place, reviewing superseding permissions, contributions arrears and identifying priority cases.
“This will lead to targeted site visits where required.”