Cork City Council's Derelict Sites Register hits 147 sites in final quarter of 2023
The City Council levied derelict sites owners with a bill of €1.1m for 2023. It's collected just over €100k according to data released this week.
The latest quarterly Chief Executive report from Cork City Council shows that the City Council ramped up the number of new derelict sites files in the past three months while also placing more sites on to the derelict sites register (DSR).
From September through to the end of November this year, the City Council opened 41 new files (compared with 14 for Q3) and entered 30 new sites onto the DSR (compared with 5 for Q3). The current total of derelict sites now stands at 147, but the true figure of dereliction is likely much higher as getting on to the DSR is a complex and lengthy process.
Levies for sites on the DSR were increased from 3% of market value per year to 7% of market value per year in 2020 to act as a deterrent against dereliction and land hoarding.
New to the DSR are The Rochestown Inn on the Rochestown Road registered to John Sweeney, Kennedy's Bar in Sunday’s Well, registered to Wealth Options Limited in Naas and 15 George's Quay (pictured above) registered to Jamily Limited, French Furze House, Carrigaline.
However, the City Council has had less success in recuperating levies, with just over €100,000 collected in 2023. By comparison, the Council collected over €280,000 in the final quarter of 2022.
Don’t park here/litter wars
Elsewhere, the City Council doled out 50,320 parking fines and tickets for the 12 months up to October 2023. As always, St. Patrick’s Street is the most heavily ticketed street in the city, accounting for more than 3,000 tickets or over 6% of the total. The only change in the top five from 2021-2022 is Cornmarket Street, which has fallen out and has been replaced by Wellington Road.
Failure to display a valid disc is by far and away the leading reason to be ticketed; it accounted for 20k tickets, or more than 40% of the total.
The total number of litter fines for the six months up to October has been fewer than those for the same six months in 2022. 44 fines were issued in October this year, marginally less than for October 2022 (51). However, the City Council has had a lot more success in court, winning 27 out of 28 court prosecutions for littering. Details of the individual cases are not included in the CE report.
Crime
Chief Superintendent Thomas Myers of An Garda Síochána presented the latest crime stats which revealed that property crime is up in most categories in 2023. Notably, incidents of shoplifting increased to 1959, up 24% on 2022. While the number of vehicles stolen was slightly down from 320 (2022) to 301 for 2023, “interfering with a car with intent to steal an item or the vehicle” was up 17% to 238 incidents. Bicycle theft is slightly down on last year to 153 incidents compared with 169 in 2022.