Call for regional park to be developed on wetlands once called 'the Riviera of Cork'

LOCALS on the northside of Cork City have called for the establishment of a regional park on a publicly owned 200-acre wetland site that is earmarked for partial development.

Members of the newly formed Murphy’s Rock and Bride Valley Support Group say the Murphy’s Rock area in Kilcully has been a green space for over 30 years and they are calling on Cork City Council to establish a regional park on the 200-plus acre site.

Locals say the land, which was previously owned by the Industrial Development Agency and is currently the property of the Land Development Agency, is an area of outstanding beauty and environmental importance that needs to be preserved for future generations.

In the Cork City draft development plan, it is proposed that a section of the Kilcully land would be earmarked for development.

However, this is something the locals say would constitute a significant and environmentally damaging change to a beloved local amenity.

'A perfect location' for a regional park

The wetlands of Murphy’s Rock have long been a favourite beauty spot, and the late actor and comedian Niall Tóibín famously referred to the area as “the Riviera of Cork”.

Murphy’s Rock and Bride Valley Support Group chairwoman Joan Sutton said there had been no public consultation about the council’s plans.

“Cork City Council has announced a significant development which, if it is allowed to go ahead, will have a catastrophic effect on a place which belongs to us all, and which we all have a duty of care to protect,” Ms Sutton said.

She said that, with the exception of a tiny park in Ballyvolane, the nearest designated walk for the area’s estimated 10,000 residents was in Blarney.

“This is a perfect location for a regional park, which would preserve our environment and which would give all the people of the northside the sort of public amenity we deserve,” she said.

Murphy’s Rock and Bride Valley Support Group secretary Pauline Cudmore said the land should be designated a special area of conservation, as it is the habitat of thousands of species of animals and plants, many of them endangered.

“Murphy’s Rock is home to kestrels, bats, rabbits, mice, foxes, buzzards, dippers, heron, squirrels, badgers, otters, stoats, trout, lamprey, not to mention innumerable types of lichen,” Ms Cudmore said.

“The Glenamought river is a tributary of the Bride and it is pristine — and it should be remembered that our streams are the lifeblood of our local environment.

“We just cannot afford to lose the last wilderness left in Cork City,” she said.

Proposed amendment to plan

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran told The Echo that last month he proposed an amendment to the city development plan, which was agreed in principle at the local area committee. The details are to be developed by officials ahead of a full meeting of Cork City Council that is due to take place on March 15 to agree the final stage of the development plan.

When the development plan is finalised, a public consultation will occur.

“The proposal is that an objective will be set for the area along the Glenamought River Valley to recognise and preserve the area’s natural amenity and social history.

“This will encompass the entire area, including Murphy’s Rock, beginning west of the Eight Arch Bridge and running east to Kilcully Bridge,” Mr Moran said.

The area is zoned in a number of different ways with no one specific objective or special recognition for the area, Mr Moran said. He added that the amendment would provide Murphy’s Rock with the recognition that it hasn’t had to date.

“It builds on a motion we’ve held in the local area committee for the past 12 months — that Murphy’s Rock would be recognised as a biodiversity amenity area and that this would be recognised in the new development plan,” Mr Moran said.

“A key accompanying aspect of this is that any residential development next to the [Glenamought River] valley and Murphy’s Rock in the lands owned by the Land Development Agency would be master-planned.

“What we are discussing is that the masterplan would need to be sensitive to the visual and natural amenity of the valley, reflect its social heritage, provide appropriate access to Murphy’s Rock, and integrate a neighbourhood-scale park.

“We’re still working on those details ahead of the 15 March meeting, but the principle has been accepted and agreed,” Mr Moran added.