Council weighs up rates’ relief on vacant properties

DEBATE Widerdiscussion on viability of town centres

Cavan County council is exploring the possibility of introducing rates relief for businesses that set up in vacant town centre properties.

However, such a scheme will not be introduced until numbers are fully crunched in time for Budget 2024.

Intended as an incentive for new start-ups and town centre rejuvenation, Chief Executive of Cavan County Council, Tommy Ryan, said the pros and cons of such a scheme would have to be weighed up.

Speaking at the January meeting of elected members, Mr Ryan warned against the threat of potential “displacement” caused by established businesses moving shop to take advantage of the chance to circumvent their levy payment obligations. He said the scheme was something that would be “looked at”, but only towards the end of the year.

His comments came as part of a larger discussion generated on foot of a motion by Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly. She sought to discuss the impact the closure of key businesses, specifically hotels, was having on towns and villages, and what measures could be introduced to retain them.

But Mr Ryan indicated that the perception of a town centre has “moved on”.

“They serve a different purpose than was the case 20 years ago,” he contended.

He stressed the council was working hard through various capital investment schemes to breathe new life into towns and village centres, but openly admitted: “We don’t have all the answers.”

Too lucrative

Cllr O’Reilly had claimed an over-incentivisation connected to government-led resettlement “policy”, whether providing emergency accommodation or rooms to house refugees have proven too lucrative for some, and resulted in some hotels closing their doors to the public entirely.

“Town centres are struggling,” she said. “... some more than others.”

“There is an increased trend of hotels taking advantage of the opportunity that’s there and selling up and getting out.”

She added: “No one has a problem with emergency accommodation, or providing accommodation for refugees. The problem is when these hotels close their doors to the public.”

Cllr O’Reilly said town centre hotels, beyond their hospitality remit, provided a myriad of social resources. Once gone, it often left communities bereft of an available meeting space.

She made specific reference to the impending sale of the landmark Bailie Hotel, placed on the market last year with an asking price of €1.2 million.

She referenced other town centre hotels that have been put up for sale, closed fully, or simply shut their doors to the public - the Dun A Ri Hotel in Kingcourt; the Percy French in Ballyjamesduff, subject of a €8.5m council-led refurbishment plan; Kilian's Lodge Hotel in Mullagh, up for sale for €1.1m; and the White Horse Hotel in Cootehill.

Others too in Monaghan - Treacey’s and the Fiddler’s Elbow in Carrickmacross, and the Riverdale Hotel, Ballybay.

While welcoming investment through Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF), the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF), Crói Conaithe (Towns) Fund and the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, she said there was a feeling this was only “papering over the cracks”.

“More needs to be done by us, as a local authority,” she stated, while reiterating a call she made during the drafting of the last annual budget, to provide rate relief for new businesses opening in town centres.

Her comments were supported by Sinn Féin’s Paddy McDonald who noted that three shops in Bailieborough town centre would soon close.

“We’ll have to look at the rates,” he agreed.

Fianna Fáil’s Clifford Kelly agreed the closure of a centrally located hotel put towns at a “huge disadvantage”, particularly in terms of attracting tourism.

He said Kingscourt had three hotels at one stage. “Now there’s only [Cabra Castle].”

Like Cllr O’Reilly, he credited the influence of Minister for Rural and Community Development and Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, in supporting local projects.

So too Aiden Fitzpatrick (FF). He explained how he’d stopped for food at the Hotel Bailie and casting a glance across the road counted nine empty premises on the town’s Main Street.

“If the Bailie closes, it’ll be a disaster.”

However he noted that opportunities arise for others to fill gaps in the market, as was the case with the Errigal Hotel in Cootehill.

“When I was growing up, there was a niteclub in every town,” he said, suggesting that plans to introduce new licensing laws with opening times extended to 6am might otherwise benefit some rural hotels.

He also pointed to the closure of bank branches, particularly Cootehill, where the former Ulster Bank is now used as a community hub, and the council had purchased the neighbouring Bank of Ireland premises to be used as a remote working and community services centre.

“There’ll always be opportunity,” said Cllr Fitzpatrick.

'They’re not museums'

Brendan Fay (Ind) argued that the cost of utilities such as electricity is forcing businesses to close; and Fine Gael’s TP O’Reilly remarked that “times have changed” and the days of a dozen pubs open in some towns were gone.

“It’s now a quarter of that, if even. If you don’t move with the times you run out of road.”

A critical factor in the change, Peter McVitty (FG) believes, was the advent of online shopping.

“People vote with their feet,” he said. “I don’t think rates ever closed a small shop.”

There was support too for the arrival of discount multiples such as Lidl or Aldi (Cootehill) given the current cost of living crisis. Questions were raised too about planning decisions that allowed the development of retail parks or other major development so far from town centres.

Cathaoirleach John Paul Feeley said the once traditional trip from a rural area in Cavan had been supplanted in more modern times by travelling to Dublin.

He said that towns and villages had to reflect the times that people live in - “2023 and not 1850 or 1960”.

“They’re not museums,” he said.

Upgrade

Responding to the reactions of councillors, Director of Services Brendan Jennings told the meeting the ultimate goal of the local authority was to “upgrade” local towns and villages to make them better places in which to “live, work, and do business”.

He said there were “many other factors” that directly impacted on town development.

The reverberations of Covid was one example, but the council supported local businesses through the likes of the Trading Online Voucher Scheme, designed to assist small businesses with up to 10 employees to trade more online, boost sales and reach new markets.

Some have since become hugely successful off the back of this endeavour, which had only served to “strengthen” the respective businesses.

Bailieborough and Carrickmacross, for example, are set to receive €100,000 each aimed at tackling dereliction.

A person appointed as a Town Centre Regeneration Officer within the council, coincidently, had taken up their role on the same day the councillors sat to have their meeting.

Progress is being made in supporting rejuvenation, but Mr Jennings added: “It doesn’t fix things overnight.”