Objections delay Cork City Council efforts to buy derelict sites

The local authority was seeking to purchase buildings on Barrack St and North Main St, but the objections will cause a delay in this process

Derelict buildings above shops on North Main St, Cork City. Picture: Neil Michael

Objections have been lodged against the proposed compulsory acquisition of six derelict buildings in Cork City which have come to symbolise the blight of dereliction in cities.

News of the objections to Cork City Council’s simultaneous attempts to CPO four adjoining derelict buildings on North Main St and two adjoining derelict buildings on Barrack St, comes ahead of Monday’s deadlines for submissions on the process. 

In a statement, the council confirmed that as of Friday, it had received an objection from a party in relation to the North Main St properties and a separate objection from another party in relation to all six properties.

“Once the date for objections has passed, copies of all objections received will be referred to An Bord Pleanála,” the council said.

Triggered legal process

The council last month formally triggered the legal process to acquire 62, 63, 64 and 65 North Main St, and 118 and 119 Barrack St, under Section 14 of the Derelict Sites Act 1990.

The North Main St buildings were owned by David O’Connor and Bryan O’Connor when they were placed on the derelict sites register in December 2015. They are now listed as being in the hands of a receiver.

The Barrack St buildings were owned by David O’Connor when they were placed on the register around the same time.

The Sunset Ridge Hotel site in Killeens, which suffered extensive damage in a suspected arson attack in late June. File picture

The simultaneous move to compulsorily acquire all six came almost two years on from the partial collapse of number 63 North Main St and the erection of large external steel A-frames to prop up its facade and the installation of hoarding which led to the closure of a section of public footpath for more than a year.

The council had to intervene in summer 2020 and arrange for building stabilisation works there to facilitate the reopening of the public footpath.

Then last month, it triggered the CPO legal process, which allowed a month for people to make written submissions.

93 sites on register

There are currently 93 sites listed on the city’s Derelict Sites Register, with several others being lined up for consideration for addition to the list, including the former Sunset Ridge Hotel site in Killeens, which suffered extensive damage in a suspected arson attack in late June.

They include one site on Cornmarket St, which has been on the register since 1993 and another on South Main St, which has been on the register since 1998.

Other high-profile sites on the register include the former Moore's Hotel block, which is earmarked for development, and Vernon Mount House and associated lands which was added to the register in March.