Green light for large-scale housing development to proceed on Cork city site
Permission has been granted for approximately 600 homes at a site in Cork city. Illustrations Pedersen Focus submitted with initial application
Permission has been granted for approximately 600 homes at a site in Cork city.
Subject to 30 conditions, Watfore Limited, the property management and development subsidiary of the site owners Dairygold, were granted permission for the strategic housing development (SHD) at the former CMP Dairy site, known as Creamfields, located at the corner of Kinsale Road and the Tramore Road.
The developers had initially applied for permission for 609 residential dwellings - 561 apartments and 48 townhouse apartments in a mix of one, two, three and four-bed units arranged in 12 buildings.
However, one condition attached to the grant of permission stipulates that three units in Block E, directly above the gym, be replaced with internal residential amenity space to serve buildings E and F only. All of the dwellings proposed in those two buildings will be Build to Rent apartments.
The initial plans also included the provision of 209 shared car parking spaces, including EV charging points, 1,145 bicycle parking spaces and 21 motorcycle spaces. Another condition asks that details of additional visitor bicycle parking adjacent to the planned town plaza be submitted, along with information on dedicated bicycle storage for Blocks B, C and J.
“Bicycle parking spaces shall be secure, sheltered and conveniently located. This may result in the omission of a number of ground floor apartments,” the board’s order reads. The board have also asked for bicycle charging points.
The proposals included the provision of private, communal and public open space, including all balconies and terraces; internal roads and pathways; pedestrian access points; and hard and soft landscaping and boundary treatments.
The board have added a condition to ensure the public open space and boundary planting work is completed before any of the dwellings are made available for occupation.
“The landscape scheme shall be implemented fully in the first planting season following completion of the development, and any trees or shrubs which die or are removed within three years of planting shall be replaced in the first planting season thereafter. This work shall be completed before any of the dwellings are made available for occupation,” the board’s condition states.
“Access to green roof areas shall be strictly prohibited unless for maintenance purposes,” it adds.
Last year, Watfore Limited had been at pre-application consultation stage for an SHD proposal comprising 706 apartments and a childcare facility at the same site.
However, the plans had to be amended before a formal application could be made as ABP stated that the proposed development required “further consideration/amendment”.
The CMP site closed in 2006 and all buildings were subsequently cleared.
Since then the site has remained largely idle, although it has been used occasionally to host a temporary funfair.
The site was rezoned from “light industry and related uses” to “residential, local services and institutional uses” by Cork City Council in 2019.
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