Louth Cllr highlights loss of potential revenue due to absence of Vacant Site Levy

Cllr Mark Dearey raised the vacant site register maintained by Louth County Council at the January council meeting, highlighting the fact that it is not yet populated, and as a result the council is losing out on a potential revenue stream.

Cllr Dearey said: “it is now collectable, it is a revenue stream and we struggled hard to find that during the budgetary process. I do understand that about half the local authorities have populated their Vacant Site Register while the other have have not, for a whole host of legitimate reasons too.

“Nonetheless”, Cllr Dearey continued, “I have a concern that half the local authorities managed to at least put something on their vacant site register, which is not only yielding some revenue for the local authorities but is also putting a fair number of landlords on a significant stimulus to develop.

“We have not and I'd be interested to hear what our reasons for not doing so are.”

In her response to Cllr Dearey, chief executive Joan Martin explained how she saw it as an unusual piece of legislation and how she felt it was introduced “at a time when we desperately needed the private sector to start building houses.”

She continued, saying, “I felt what we desperately needed was a carrot to encourage the private sector to build houses and not a stick, and it [the Vacant Site Levy] has had no impact as far as I can see at encouraging anybody.”

Cllr Dearey replied to Ms Martin, saying that in some parts of the country, including in Sligo, it has been successful in encouraging developers to build with planning submitted for development on a number of vacant sites.

 He also referred to a number of other sites in the country where the Vacant Site Register and levy has been successful and said, “it isn't all the carrot Chief Executive, the stick does work too.”

“You have to accept there are cases and there must be in this county where  land is being hoarded or sat on in the hope of improving values and during a housing crisis that is unacceptable, and the minister is saying so himself.

The chief executive said she would include a report on the matter in the next meeting agenda.