A Clonmel Councillor says she’s against a Compulsory Purchase Order being placed on Market Place in the town.
The site’s been more or less derelict for years and Fine Gael’s Michael Murphy has been calling for Tipperary County Council to issue a compulsory purchase order to buy it.
He says he’d like to see it turned into a retirement village to help alleviate the housing crisis.
But Fianna Fail’s Siobhán Ambrose says she’s against the plan.
“I wouldn’t be in favour at the present time CPO’ing Market Place. To just put in context to CPO a site – compulsory purchase order – it’s a very serious matter and it’s not done lightly. It’s a very lengthy process and it’s a costly process.”
The Council’s District manager confirmed that she would be looking at the possibility of a C-P-O if the owners didn’t come up with concrete plans to redevelop it.
But Councillor Ambrose says they should be allowed more time to doing something.
“In the case of Market Place you have a site – a very good site – where the buildings are in good condition. It’s not a very old site. Looking at Market Place it’s a great example of a site that could easily be turned around in a relatively short space of time. Obviously I’d like to see a mix of both commercial and residential units on this particular site.”
