Residents group say they will strongly oppose the planned new South Link apartment development

A group of Cork residents are opposing plans for a 17-storey apartment block on the South City Link Road.

The Railway Gardens development will be located close to the Elysian tower facing onto the Rockboro and Gasworks roads.

The developers plan to build 118 apartments on the site and have lodged a fast-track housing application to An Bord Pleanála.

However, local residents say they plan to meet with local councillors this week as a first step in their campaign to oppose the development.

They have criticised what they say is the “undemocratic nature” of the planning process to date, the scale and density of the existing project and the fact that it materially contravenes the Cork City Development plan guidelines on tall buildings.

In an agreed statement the residents said: “We would encourage development of this long-vacant site. However, we believe this proposal, in its scale and density, would be disastrous to the existing residents of the area, many of the residents who would be housed in the development and to the wider city in the long term.”

The residents said the planning notice was the first piece of information they received on the scale and density of the development and there was no consultation with them.

The developers Seamus and Evelyn Scally have described the project as “unashamedly pedestrian-focused” with 239 bicycle spaces and five car parking spaces; three disabled spaces and two for service vehicles.

The residents said the decision to provide no parking for residents of the 118-apartment tower was “baffling and unrealistic.”

“It makes this proposal fundamentally different to other successful high-rise developments in the city such as The Elysian which contains two basement garages for parking,” they said.

Submissions on the Railway Gardens development can be made up until September 18 and a decision is expected from An Bord Pleanála in December.