Blarney residents relief as they learn N/M20 project won't impact on their properties
Residents of a Blarney housing estate had feared the proposed N/M20 Cork to Limerick project would have a detrimental impact on their properties.
A RESIDENT in a Blarney housing estate has spoken of the relief he and his neighbours are feeling following the confirmation that the proposed development of the N/M20 project won’t, after all, impact on their properties as they had previously feared.
Arnie O’Connell, whose home is in Ard Dara in Blarney, said that he and his neighbours had spent the last few years living in an atmosphere of uncertainty as the route proposed for the Cork to Limerick motorway initially envisaged a 500m zone, which would have encroached on the back gardens and some of the houses of a row of between 20-30 homes in Ard Dara and also in Castle Gardens, which are on opposite sides of Station Road in Blarney.
“For the last couple of years, it could be described as uncertainty, when people didn’t know what was going to happen, whether the road was going to encroach on the back of the houses or the houses themselves,” he said.
He described Ard Dara as ‘probably one of the best estates on that side of the city’ and said people had been concerned for a number of reasons – including elderly people who were worried about their security with a major road taking some of their garden space and others who were unsure if they could carry out renovations on their homes as they feared losing them through Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) to make way for the road.
The news that the road wouldn’t actually encroach on their homes came in a response from Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to a Dáil question from Cork North Central Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould.
“This mainline corridor will be reduced further over the next 12 months and project updates informing of progress in this regard will be released in Quarter 2 (draft design) and Quarter 4 (final design and fence line) 2024.
“Where the project passes Ard Dara and Castle Gardens in Blarney, the N/M20 Cork to Limerick mainline will be developed by widening the existing N20 under the Station Road bridge, which will be contained within the footprint of the existing N20 road boundary and, as such, will not have any direct impact on properties within Ard Dara and Castle Gardens".
“In order to meet the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for submission to An Bórd Pleanála, environmental assessments, including noise and air quality, will be undertaken for representative properties in Ard Dara and Castle Gardens and mitigation strategies will be developed.”
The Cork North Central TD welcomed the assurances from the Transport Minister. “It has been more than three years now since residents in these areas were informed that they could be potentially impacted by the proposed route,” he said. “In that time, we have received verbal assurances that this is unlikely, but this is the first time we have gotten written correspondence.
“I know this has impacted on people’s ability to sell their homes and to get loans to refurbish their homes.
“The N/M20 is a vitally important piece of infrastructure – the road is too dangerous currently and does not provide proper connectivity between Cork and Limerick.
“We want to see this progressed now so that people can make this journey safely.”
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