Survey to be carried out over car park proposal in Cork town

A survey is to be carried out in Mallow to determine whether there is a need for a car park in the North Cork town, it was agreed at Friday's meeting of Mallow Kanturk Municipal District Council, the first of the new year.

The issue of car parking in the town was raised by Fianna Fáil councillor Pat Hayes who said the need for long term parking was made clear  following the recent fire in the underground car park at the Dunnes Stores complex which led to that facility's closure for more than a week in the run-up to Christmas. 

"The provision of efficient, well-managed parking is essential to the economic viability of the town," said the councillor.

"It is important as an MD [municipal district] we provide sufficient short term, long term and disabled parking for people who want to shop, people who are working in town and also for residents. 

"There is a need for long term parking as was highlighted recently when the Dunnes Stores car park was closed due to fire. 

"We also have schools in town who do not have sufficient parking.

"There are a number of sites that could be looked at and I would ask our council to investigate the possibility of providing long term parking."

Mr Hayes suggested at least one site as a possible location for a multi-storey car park but said there would be other sites in the town as well.

"If there is not sufficient parking then people will go elsewhere to shop," he said. 

"The other difficulty is for people working in town. There is not sufficient long term parking for them to park."

The motion was agreed by the councillors and it was proposed by officials that a survey would be carried out to determine the need for such a facility in the town and then the officials would come back before the council when the results of that research made known to determine the next steps.

Car parking has been an ongoing issue in Mallow over the years.  

A free parking regime which was in place since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic ended in mid 2022. 

It had been in place to encourage people to continue shopping in the town but as the pandemic ended, officials pointed to the lost revenue to the council coffers. 

It was also decided at Friday's meeting to hold an in-committee meeting about the issue of on-street parking, particularly in residential areas.