Three vacant sites listed on Dún Laoghaire land-hoarding register

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has listed three sites on the local authority's vacant sites register. (View map of vacant sites here)

Two of the sites are owned by semi-state body Horse Racing Ireland, and the third is owned by the Central Bank. The register was introduced for councils last year to prevent land hoarding.

Both of the sites owned by Horse Racing Ireland are close to Leopardstown Racecourse, and a large area of vacant land owned by the Central Bank is located next to its currency centre where notes are printed, in Sandyford.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was the last Dublin local authority to publish details of vacant land, a year after the requirement to list idle sites suitable for housing in each council area began.

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Fingal County Council was the second last Dublin authority, and published a list of eight vacant sites on its register in January. It is expected in both councils the amount of sites on the registers will increase as more sites are assessed.

Any sites on the register will face a levy worth 3 per cent of the value of the site from this year, but charges will only be issued from 2019. Sites are included on the council’s register if the area is larger than 0.05 hectares, has been vacant for 12 months, and is zoned for residential development in an area with a need for housing.

The site levy is to encourage development of suitable land and to stop land hoarding.

A significant amount of vacant sites published on the land hoarding registers are State or semi-State owned.

Dublin City Council (DCC) recently added 18 sites onto its register in November last year. In total 15 of the vacant sites on the council’s register are owned by DCC themselves, out of 82 sites listed in total.

Some of the vacant sites owned by the local authority are in the process of being redeveloped, such as social housing flats at O’Devaney Gardens in D7.

South Dublin County Council currently have nine sites listed on their vacant register.

Several urban local authorities outside of Dublin have yet to add any sites to their registers, including Cork City Council, Galway City Council, and Limerick City and County Council.

Waterford local authority have published 64 sites on their land hoarding register, the majority of which are owned by private individuals and development companies.

A land owner can appeal their inclusion on the council’s register with the council, and after that with An Board Pleanála.