MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
QUESTION NO. 11
QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons
To ask the Chief Executive if the Council could please give an update on the Vacant house at St Patricks Park in Clondalkin ? This house has been lying vacant since being built , how much did it cost to build?
REPLY
The Council has encountered difficulties in the sale or letting of the above dwelling due to a disputed strip of land which forms part of the side garden to the property. The strip of land in question which was a former public pathway over which the public right of way had been extinguished, remained registered in the ownership of the original developers of the estate.
A number of attempts were made to negotiate the acquisition of the strip of land from the registered owners by agreement but these were not successful. Accordingly the Council initiated the procedure to acquire the lands compulsorily in March 2013 and the Compulsory Purchase Order was subsequently confirmed by An Bord Pleanála on 29th August 2013. The relevant notices were issued on the owners and possession was formally taken of the strip of land in February 2014 pursuant to the confirmed Compulsory Purchase Order.
The owners have nominated an Agent to enter into negotiations with the Council on their behalf in relation to agreeing compensation as provided for in the Compulsory Purchase Order and discussions have been ongoing between the Agent and the Council’s Valuer for some time, but no agreement has been reached. It is now proposed to make a final offer of compensation to the owners and if not accepted within a reasonable time-frame, the Council will proceed to initiate the procedure to have title to the land vested in itself. The future use of the property can be reviewed at this stage but in the event of the property being placed for sale, the title to the strip of land will need to be registered to the Council prior to a sale of the property.
The above house together with the construction of a new 1.8m high stone wall plus capping between Michael Collins Park and St. Patrick’s Estates for a distance of approximately 130 metres and the construction of a 600 mm high stone wall and railing between these two estates and fronting onto Ninth Lock Road for a distance of approximately 30 metres, was proposed as a package of measures approved by the Council in May 2006 to aid in the reduction of anti-social behaviour at this location.
The final cost of the contract for the construction of house and wall at this location was in the sum of €563,759.00. Other miscellaneous expenditure including fees relating to the CPO referred to above, has brought the total expended by the Council on this project to date to €608,387.80. The Council would hope to be in a position to recoup some of the cost from the future sale/letting of the house.
