COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

QUESTION NO. 11

QUESTION: Councillor P. Cosgrave

"To ask the Manager to give a report on who owns the lands that are part of the reservation for the Knocklyon re-alignment and what price of purchase has been agreed. Can the purchase price be renegotiated to relate to today’s land values?"

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council (Knocklyon Road) Order 2006 was made on 4th December, 2006 and was confirmed with modifications on 23rd May, 2007.  Notice to Treat was served on the land owners in August 2007.

There are 30 plots required under this CPO to facilitate the new road.  Twenty two of these plots are privately owned.

Under the current legislation the Council is required to compensate the land owners at the date of service of Notice to Treat (i.e. 17th August, 2007 in this case).   

In practice when a claim for compensation is received from the land owners, the Council’s Valuer is instructed to enter into negotiations to secure the best possible valuation which is acceptable to both sides.

The Council’s Valuer has estimated the value of the lands to be acquired at between €7 and €7.5m excluding legal and other fees.

To date the Valuer has negotiated either by agreement or arbitration the acquisition of seven Plots to a value of €4.18m excluding fees. Four of the plots owned by one land owner have been acquired and compensation paid in the sum of €410,000 excluding fees.

Two other land owners (for another three Plots) requested that the claim be referred to the Arbitrator, as agreement could not be reached between the Valuers on land costs.  One of the land owners was awarded €400,000 excluding legal and other fees for one plot and the other landowners were awarded €3.375m excluding fees for two larger plots.  The Arbitrator has only recently made awards in both cases, and compensation has not yet been paid.  

Negotiations are still ongoing in relation to the remaining privately owned lands, and these negotiations are at various stages. 

However, bearing in mind the Council’s obligation to compensate for lands at the date of Notice to Treat in 2007, when it could not have been anticipated that land values would be reduced so severely, the Council’s Valuer, through skilled negotiations, always secures the best deal possible for all lands which the Council requires for this and all other road schemes.