MITCHELSTOWN LEISURE CENTRE PROPOSALS ENCOURAGING
The Mitchelstown Leisure Centre Group are ‘delighted’ with the response they have received from groups interested in the development of a recreational facility in the town. Speaking to The Avondhu, chairman, Ben Lynch, said that the consultation stage is going well, with several positive meetings producing positive results.
“We are delighted with the response and content in the submissions made and the range of facilities desired by various groups and individuals around Mitchelstown,” Mr Lynch said this week.
“We have met several groups to seek clarification on their proposals, we held a second meeting with a group in one case. It will take a little time to establish a reasonable view of what is needed ourselves, that is why we will be reverting to all groups who made submissions within a short few weeks then in time revert to the public to present the results of our findings,” he added.
“We are working very hard on it, and have met at least once every week in the last month on moving it forward, but I have to say the positive nature of this process is encouraging,” Mr Lynch concluded.
It now seems unlikely that the swimming pool, originally proposed as the focal point of the leisure development, will go ahead as part of the new plan due to cost restrictions. Fermoy professionals to challenge capital gains tax on CPO compensation Two Fermoy men who successfully secured Mulder milk quotas for joint venture farmers more than 15 years ago are returning to assist farmers and landowners who have to pay capital gains tax on compensation secured for compulsory purchase orders (CPO).
Dick Collins, managing director of Farm Business Advisers Ltd., Fermoy, a well known agricultural consultant, and Professor Brian Carroll, solicitor and UCC legal academic, have been working for some time to formulate an effective capital gains tax strategy for active farmers and landowners facing compulsory acquisition of their land for roads and other infrastructure development.
Professor Carroll said that from a landowner’s perspective, the abolition of roll-over relief (ROR) from capital gains tax (CGT) is ‘inequitable’ as regards compulsory acquisition.
It is a long established principle of the statutory CPO compensation code, which is also enshrined in the December 2001 Agreement between the IFA and the Government, that landowners must be left in a position to fully replace their farming assets with the compensation resulting from a CPO acquisition.
This compensation code was established by the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act 1845, long before capital gains tax was introduced. Since the abolition of roll over relief (ROR) in 2002 the majority of landowners are now left 25% short of funds to replace these farming assets.
Dick Collins told The Avondhu: “A landowner who receives a compulsory purchase order has no choice but to sell and is therefore in a different category to a vendor in a normal commercial transaction.”
The Carroll and Collins team have studied individual circumstances and how the current legislation impacts on landowners and farm families facing CPO’s. While their tax plan will be complex they are confident of success and are prepared for a test case in the High Court if necessary.
However, to proceed further they need the support of a substantial number of landowners impacted by each road scheme in order to influence decision makers and justify the workload and costs involved.
Dick Collins already has a substantial number of clients on the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy and the M20 Cork – Limerick motorways which are scheduled to go ahead in the current year. All the landowners on these schemes are now being invited to support the project.
If a sufficient number of landowners on both schemes indicate their support over the next few weeks, Dick Collins says they will proceed to finalise the remaining elements of the CGT Tax Plan and make it available for their clients as part of the claim that will be lodged in due course for the relevant compensation.
Published:
Thursday 9th July 7:01pm