A Clonmel councillor is calling for a tax relief system to help property owners to deal with dereliction in unused spaces above businesses.
Councillor John Fitzgerald told this week’s meeting of Tipperary County Council that while the Town Centres First programme is great, there is nothing like it for bigger towns like Clonmel.
He congratulated Roscrea on being included and hopes that Clonmel might be considered in another phase down the line.
In the meantime, he said that there needs to be real incentives for business owners to tackle property dereliction.
“I’d be disappointed if they missed the opportunity to really look at the bigger picture.
“The larger towns like Clonmel, which is crying out for an end to that overhead dereliction, the only way that anybody will take up a scheme like that is if it’s given proper tax designation, rather than supports that don’t do enough for the owner to want to involve themselves in the scheme.”
