Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1931

Acquisition of and compensation for derelict sites.

39.—(1) A local authority may acquire either by agreement with the consent of the Minister or compulsorily a derelict site for any of the purposes of Part III of the Act of 1890 as amended by any subsequent enactment, including this Act, notwithstanding that such site is not immediately required for such purpose.

(2) A derelict site so acquired by a local authority may with the consent of the Minister, pending its ultimate appropriation for the purpose for which it was acquired, be used temporarily by the local authority as a playground or recreation ground for persons of the working classes and other persons.

(3) Where a local authority acquire compulsorily a derelict site for any of the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts the compensation to be paid by the local authority in respect of the acquisition of such site shall be assessed in accordance with the provisions contained in Part I of the Third Schedule to this Act and, subject as aforesaid, shall be assessed in accordance with the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919 , as amended by the Acquisition of Land (Reference Committee) Act, 1925 (No. 22 of 1925).

(4) For the purposes of this section the expression “derelict site” means any land situate in an area inhabited mainly by persons of the working classes or in close proximity to such an area which is—

(a) the site of a building that has been demolished or which is in a ruinous and uninhabitable condition; or

(b) land which has not been and cannot be built upon without clearance and levelling and is or is likely to become in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious to health by reason of the deposit thereon of filth, rubbish or other insanitary matters or otherwise; and

(c) which is land which has been lying undeveloped or not re-developed for a period of not less than three years immediately preceding the time at which the local authority determine by resolution to acquire the land.