By Andy Spearman
Narrow West Street investor explains difficulties in getting planning permission
The abundance of derelict and vacant buildings is a major problem for Drogheda. It’s as if the heart has been sucked out of the place.
Citizens of the town, which the current government still refuses to upgrade to a city, are justifiably angry and the feeling is that nobody in government cares about them and the place they call home.
But the Drogheda public have responded with anger rather than despondency. Tomorrow evening’s sold out public meeting in the Barbican Centre on the dereliction issue will hopefully be a turning point in the battle to save our heritage town.
Of course urban dereliction is not unique to Drogheda, it is rampant in towns, cities and villages throughout the country. Visitors must wonder what the hell is going on as they travel through what is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and they see vacant buildings almost collapsing onto the streets.
What is going on is gross mismanagement of the country’s financial resources by a government that is hopelessly Dublin centric. Local authorities are badly underfunded and must go begging cap in hand to the mandarins in Leinster House.
Louth County Council has come in for huge levels of criticism, much of it well deserved, but Chief Executive Joan Martin is renowned for her mantra, which she tells councillors at meeting after meeting: “We don’t have the money for that.”
Nobody wants to see Drogheda in the state that it has been allowed to fall into; not the public, not visitors, not the council and certainly not the building owners. Why would they?
Building owners in Drogheda have come in for a lot of criticism on social media and elsewhere but many of them are frustrated by the red tape and bureaucracy they have to contend with.
Local businessman Neil Kelly is one of a group of investors who acquired five premises on the south side of Narrow West Street in 2015. This week he agreed to talk to Drogheda Life about how the street has since become so badly derelict.
“Immediately after we bought the buildings, which were already in a fairly dilapidated state, we engaged architect Emmet Humphries to draw up a plan to develop the properties” Mr. Kelly said.
“Working in consultation with Louth County Council and the then fire officer Ms. Sheila Broderick in particular being mindful of the age of the buildings and the need for proper safety structures to be put in place. Our discussions and deliberations took almost a year to complete.
“On completing a plan and, with the consent of the fire officer, a planning application was lodged with Louth County Council on 4th April 2017.”
Full planning permission for the development was granted on the 29th June 2017. (File Ref; 17243) but, the very next day, 30th June 2017, the fire officer they had engaged with for almost twelve months moved to a different local authority and a new fire officer took over who advised a full refusal of a fire safety certificate application without which the development could not proceed.
“Appreciating that it would take a considerable length of time to secure a new fire certificate, effectively going back to the drawing board and starting the whole process again, the group of investors began to develop other projects” Mr.Kelly said.
“The old Star and Crescent Centre was acquired, developed and rescued from dereliction, creating upwards on fifty new jobs in the town and on the opposite side of Narrow West Street we have renovated three apartments and three shops and are currently in the process of renovating two more apartments.
“Talks are continuing with Louth County Council in relation to the future of the other premises in Narrow West Street.”
