Call for vacant shop units to be converted into new homes in Tipperary's largest town

A total of 19 of the 105 vacant commercial properties in Clonmel town are located in O’Connell Street, it was stated at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.
Cllr Michael Murphy said that this meant that a fifth of the town’s vacant commercial properties were in the main street.
Proposing that residential units should be provided in the town centre, he said there was an exemption for changing the use of a commercial property to residential without the owners needing to apply for planning permission.
Supports such as buy and renew, and repair and lease could be availed of, not just for overhead accommodation but for ground floor properties as well.
He said there was still a deficit of one and two-bedroom accommodation for people living on their own, and he knew of five vacant commercial properties that could be converted to create high standard, one and two-bedroom accommodation in and around the town centre.  
Cllr Murphy said it was all about the goal of bringing vibrancy and footfall back to the town centre.
Cllr Pat English said that the town centre needed to be revitalised and the dereliction removed.
He proposed that an inventory of all vacant and derelict properties in the district would be prepared to identify opportunities for adaptive re-use.
He said these vacancies were evident in units above shops and other street level businesses. 
The council should engage with property owners with a view to developing suitable new uses for the properties and bring them back into productive use, particularly given the need for housing and office space in the district, said Cllr English.
District Mayor Siobhan Ambrose said that announcements would be made shortly that would serve as a boost for the town centre.
She said she would be cautious about converting a large number of commercial properties into residential units until they were sure that everything worked out, and small quantities would be more effective.
Cllr John Fitzgerald said he agreed fully with Cllr Murphy that the emphasis might have to be placed on vacant commercial areas to create residential units because you would have “your work cut out” in relation to one-off derelict houses, considering the huge supply issue in this regard.
The council would be in full competition with first-time buyers and “do-er uppers” and they were entitled to get on the ladder as well.  
Tony O’Neill, Vacant Homes Officer with Tipperary County Council, said he was aware of the planning exemptions for changing vacant commercial properties to residential units, but he understood these were due to expire and the work had to be completed on such properties by the end of this year.
It was a very worthwhile scheme but there hadn’t been a huge take-up on it. It wasn’t as simple as identifying a commercial property and doing work on it because it only related to certain classes of structures. 
He said that a property that had been vacant and was then re-used by anybody was “a win” for the council. If first-time buyers were involved then the council would step back, as it didn’t want to drive up property prices.
As Vacant Homes Officer, Mr O’Neill said it was his role to identify vacant homes, make contact with the owners and try and find out what their intentions were, while encouraging them to utilise their property.
In his report to the meeting, District Administrator Jim Dillon said that a register of all known derelict sites had been compiled and was being progressed.  
In relation to vacant properties, he said the Vacant Homes Officer had been actively engaging with property owners, where known, to encourage them to avail of the repair and leasing scheme, whereby landlords could upgrade their properties and lease them to the council. 
The repayments under this scheme were made by way of a reduced monthly rent to the landlord over a 20 to 25-year period, depending on the loan duration, Mr Dillon added.  

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