Cork community wins battle to retain village status after councillor vote

COOLAGOWN has successfully retained its village status for the immediate future after councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of their village status being maintained.

Coolagown which is located five miles outside Fermoy, has retained its status as a village under the terms of the recent County Development Plan which was successfully voted through at a recent full county meeting.

Maintaining their village status was the final amendment of the County Development Plan which will run from 2022-2028 and is due to come into force this summer. The amendment was overwhelmingly carried with 44 councillors voting in favour.

Thirty seven submissions had been made to the council in advance of the council meeting, all in support of retaining the village’s status.

Several councillors spoke very passionately in support of the residents. 

Fianna Fáil councillor William O’Leary said: “It is a very sustainable area. If you remove the boundary, you are removing the aspirations from there.” 

His sentiments were echoed by Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy who said the local people want to maintain the village status. 

“I always respect the planners’ point of view, but I must disagree with them here. The people of Coolagown want to keep the status as a village. They are passionate about their village. It is a beautiful village just off the N72 on the outskirts of Fermoy.” 

Fianna Fáil councillor Frank O’Flynn said Coolagown is a ‘model village’ and has tremendous potential. 

“Coolagown is a model village. It has some beautiful housing and tremendous facilities. It has a school, a church, a large business Agri store and fibre optic broadband.

“It has tremendous potential and a community spirit which is second to none. It has won numerous awards locally, nationally and at European level. Home or away there is no better village than this model village,” he added.