Cork city street traders may withhold rates to spark council into further action
TRADERS on North Main Street who say they have been forced to cope with derelict buildings, littering, and unsightly hoarding on their street for an extended period are considering decisive action in an attempt to instigate significant change on the street.
Last week, reported that a prominent trader on the street, Micheal Creedon, the proprietor of Bradley’s Specialist Off-Licence Foodstore, said that he was considering suspending his rates payments until he sees work being done on numbers 62, 63, and 64 North Main St, which have been blocked off since last June when number 63 partially collapsed.
Additional traders have now said they are also willing to withhold their commercial rates in order to see pressing issues tackled.
Mick Scully, who runs Murphy’s Pharmacy on the street, has said a group of traders are seriously considering withholding their commercial rates.
“It’s not a rate strike, but a number of us are considering withholding rates,” he said.
“We pay rates for a reason and we have been shown no respect from the city council,” Mr Scully added.
“City council have the power to instigate change but the will is not there to do it.”
As well as the partially collapsed building and the hoarding blocking the pavement, North Main St has a number of derelict buildings, an issue which traders believe is significantly hampering the progress of the street.
“It’s extremely frustrating, especially for most traders on the street who put the investment into maintaining their buildings,” Mr Scully said.
Whilst the hoarding on the street remains in place, Patrick Leader of Leaders Menswear confirmed that on Monday the litter at the site was cleared and loose mesh on the hoarding was fixed.
Cork City Council’s director of services David Joyce last week told that the issues on North Main St were a high priority for the council.
“As individual issues come up, we are dealing with them as quickly as possible,” he said.
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