Public asked to share ‘lived experience’ in Cork city health impact assessment

CORK city residents are to be asked to share their “lived experience” at a consultation event that will inform the first health impact assessment (HIA) on a city development plan.

The event, in City Hall next Monday evening, will be facilitated by Liz Green, a HIA expert from Wales, and co-facilitated by Bernie Connolly, of Cork Environmental Forum, together with researchers from a project called HIA-IM based in UCC.

“The aim is to ensure that the public have an opportunity to contribute to a health impact assessment being done on the Cork City Development Plan,” Dr Monica O’Mullane, a research fellow at UCC’s School of Public Health, told The Echo.

“This is the first health impact assessment, or HIA, that’s ever been done in Ireland on a city development plan and it’s to ensure that potential health impacts — positive or negative or unintended — are accounted for and assessed and incorporated into the future implementation.

“It’s really important for this health impact assessment that the public is engaged in a meaningful way and that’s what next Monday is all about.”

The public consultation will focus on the core strategy of the Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028.

“Karen O’Mahony, a senior planner in city council, will give a presentation on the core strategy, which is chapter two of the city development plan: That’s our focus for the HIA. She’ll give a presentation and we’ll ask people to give us their feedback on what they think are the potential health — positive and negative — impacts of what she’s presenting, in particular on the 15-minute city and walkable neighbourhoods,” Dr O’Mullane said.

“A lot of what came out from the HIA, so far, has been a lot about safe and cohesive communities, so we’re going to talk about the health impacts of safe and cohesive communities and how this relates to the city development plan and we’ll ask people for their lived experience: That’s what we’re keen to get on Monday.

“Is the city walkable? Who is it not walkable for? That kind of lived experience is what we’re looking for.”

As the current development plan is the first of three to get to 2040, Dr O’Mullane said the HIA is a “great opportunity to inform the way forward”.

“This is a great time to do a HIA, because the data and the findings that come from it can tangibly inform the implementation of these really exciting and innovative measures, like 15-minute city and walkable neighbourhoods, but also with the lived experience,” she added.

Researchers are collecting and collating data for the HIA, which commenced in January and will conclude in September. A steering group, which includes representatives from the HSE, the Transport and Mobility Forum, the Sexual Health Centre, Mayfield Community Development Project, UCC, and Cork City Council has been assembled to inform the HIA.

The public consultation takes place in City Hall from 5pm-7.30pm on Monday, April 22. 

To register, see ‘Assessing Health Impacts of the Core Strategy, Cork City Development Plan’ on eventbrite.ie.