'The city centre is so desolate': Coalition determined to bring nature back to Cork city 

A coalition has formed to protect nature and green spaces in Cork, and to prevent the city from becoming just “car parks and dereliction”.

‘Making Space for Nature in Cork City’ is a coalition of local environmental groups and individuals that have combined their campaigning power to “protect and restore nature” in the city centre.

The coalition hopes to be an amplified voice on environmental issues, channelling the views and support of many groups and advocates into one, concentrated campaign.

Cork City Council declared a climate-change and biodiversity emergency in 2019, and has recognised the importance of preserving and promoting biodiversity. However, founders of ‘Making Space for Nature in Cork City’ say that decisions still being made at a local-authority level are negatively impacting nature in the city.

From submissions to public consultations and developments, to plans for a public demonstration or march later this year, the coalition is “keeping the pressure on” local authorities in Cork City to make decisions that are not detrimental to biodiversity.

The joint venture, led by UCC Green Campus and Cork Environmental Forum, was inspired by a recent planning decision that reduced the size of Bishop Lucey Park in the city centre.

The narrowly approved decision to contravene the city development plan, and allow for an extension of the Freemasons’ Hall into a section of Bishop Lucey Park, was branded by some as a “slap in the face” of people who want to preserve city green space.

Niamh Guiry, of UCC Green Campus, said that the development in Bishop Lucey Park was the “trigger” to establish the campaigning coalition.

“You can see it yourself, just walking around Cork City centre. In terms of green spaces, we have Bishop Lucey Park, we have a little patch of grass outside the Electric on South Mall, and then we have a patch of grass near TK Maxx, and that’s kind of it,” Ms Guiry said.

“The city centre is so desolate, at this stage, I just can’t wrap my head around the decisions that are being made to cull the existing green spaces. 

"If you keep cutting back our trees and eroding our green spaces, all that’s going to be left of Cork City is car parks and dereliction,” said Ms Guiry.

Tree canopy 

A study into Cork City’s green and blue infrastructure commissioned by the city council in 2021 found that tree-canopy coverage is 14%. This is half of the EU city average, which is 30%. The 2021 study also showed that there is an “ongoing pressure” of habitat loss for biodiversity in the city.

Bernie Connolly, of Cork Environmental Forum, said that while the city council is doing “a lot of good things” in the realm of biodiversity, and supporting community projects, she said “we need to be stronger on the decision-making of how we use space”.

She added: “We’re still seeing reduction in the available space for nature and for wildlife. We really felt that, in recent times, some of those decisions may have been ill-informed, and they don’t tie in with what the city is saying it wants to do, whether that’s through its biodiversity plan, or by declaring the biodiversity emergency in 2019.

“We just really feel that we need to keep the pressure on around protecting what we have in nature, and also in restoring nature,” Ms Connolly said.

Council plans

A spokesperson for Cork City Council highlighted that upcoming plans for the development of Bishop Lucey Park include biodiversity promotion.

“The plan for the rejuvenation of the Grand Parade Quarter, including Bishop Lucey Park, has many biodiversity gains, including a sustainable greening strategy for the adjoining streets, with new street trees lining footpaths and roadways, and new low-level planting beds and planters,” the spokesperson said.

They said that the city council has introduced several other measures to protect and promote biodiversity in the city. These include specific no-mow areas in some parks, and stopping the use of herbicide for weed control in parks and cemeteries. The council has also introduced 100 pollinator-friendly planters and several bug hotels.

What can you do to help biodiversity in Cork?

Besides getting behind Making Space for Nature in Cork City’s campaign, many things can be done to encourage nature to thrive.

Leaving a section of lawn unmowed in a garden or business premises, or stopping the use of sprayed pesticides, are just two examples of low-maintenance biodiversity boosters.

Ms Connolly said that it’s hard to quantify biodiversity in Cork City, and how that has changed over time, because there is little data.

Anyone who wants to help nature in Cork City could start by documenting it.

Maria Young, co-ordinator with eco-social groups Green Spaces for Health and Cork Food Policy Council, said that increasing green spaces around Cork City is not only good for nature, but good for our health.

“I think people are beginning to realise that now, post-Covid. We’ve all come to the conclusion that we need to get out more. 

We know it intuitively that its good for both our mental and physical wellbeing,” Ms Young said.

One way to naturally become more engaged with biodiversity, and to protect it, is to grow food.

Through helping to establish community gardens across the city, from Togher to St Luke’s, Ms Young has seen how attention to, and care for, local biodiversity tends to follow naturally.

She said that starting a food patch in your own back garden, or starting a community garden in your housing estate, can pique people’s curiosity in everything from local water quality to pollinator populations.

“You’re creating an awareness of all of these things that food gardens need, and you really end up falling in love with nature. And when you fall in love with nature, you become a defender of it, and that’s when real change happens,” Ms Young said.