A Tipperary Councillor wants the local authority to buy Market Place in Clonmel.
The retail area in the town has been mostly derelict and boarded up since Supervalu closed in 2016.
Pressure has been put on the owners to do something with the site for the good of the town.
But Cllr Michael Murphy says that hasn’t worked so it’s time to serve them with a Compulsory Purchase Order.
“There was no sign of an imminent planning application so for me now enough is enough. I think we as a statutory authority should examine the statutory powers available to us – by that I mean potentially serving a CPO notice on the owners.
Before the council could issue a compulsory purchase order they who have to set out a necessary purpose for the site to justify the CPO.
Cllr Murphy has identified what he feels the town needs.
“There is a process – we also have to identify a purpose for the site process as well and I expressed my views there of a mixture of commercial and residential. In the context of residential I’ve always said in the centre of town there’s potential for a retirement village. Of course there needs to be a commercial element as well – there’s nothing to say that Tipperary County Council can’t partner with local developers as well in terms of a vision and a purpose for the site.”
