Dereliction on town approach highlighted

Cavan County Council has issued 22 derelict site notices on Cavan Town's College Street alone.

The figures came to light after problems on the road approaching Cavan Town were highlighted at the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District meeitng held at Templeport Resource Centre recently.

Fine Gael's Madeleine Argue said she had recently travelled by bus and the effect was that she could “see everything”.

There were several properties on the way into Cavan Town on the Dublin Road and at College Street, which she said required urgent attention.

The motion was supported by Fianna Fáil's Patricia Walsh who highlighted how some had been bought recently and she hoped work on those would begin soon.

Some properties that had fallen into disrepair were now “eyesores”.

“It's not the most attractive,” agreed Director of Services for the area, Brendan Jennings, when the subject of derelict sites was raised with him.

He said the issuing of derelict site notices was the only matter of course available to the council in its attempt to tackle such issues, though he said there were areas other than College Street “hit too”.

While the council had the option to buy sites, the preferable course was to actively engage with site owners to have the dereliction addressed and the “property put back into good use”.

He said there were “lots of supports” now available to residential property owners, and highlighted that the local authority is open to working with anyone. The Vacant Property Grant is one such option.

Mr Jennings further stated that there are plenty of properties across the county that are primed for a first-time buyer to purchase, carry out repairs and live in. But he said that “unless it's a five-bed detached in the middle of nowhere” it appears people do not want to know about them.

Independent Brendan Fay agreed but added that there are difficulties with people accessing funding where the offer of a grant is not being accepted/recognised by some banks.