Cork councillors green-light 80 new apartments  in Glanmire despite residents’ concerns

Cork city councillors have voted to approve 80 new social apartments in Glanmire, after more than 600 local residents had their say.

A proposed development comprising the construction of 80 residential units at Glyntown, Glanmire, was approved at yesterday’s meeting of Cork City Council.

The proposed development will comprise four three-storey buildings to provide a total of 30 units. This will be made up of seven three-bedroom duplex apartments, three two-bedroom ground-floor apartments, eight two-bedroom duplex apartments, and 12 one-bedroom ground-floor apartments.

There will also be two four-storey apartment blocks with 48 units — 16 three-bed, 16 two-bed, and 16 one-bed.

The former coachhouse will also be subdivided to provide two three-bedroom units over two floors, with storage and bike parking at lower-groundfloor level.

A total of nine submissions and observations were received by the council, with one from the Glanmire local residents, signed by 622 residents.

Concerns were raised about the amount of parking, leading to the council increasing the previously proposed figures to 113 car parking spaces and 218 bike parking spaces.

Some submissions suggested that the housing density was not appropriate for the site, but the council said that “the scale/density of the scheme has been informed by national and local planning guidance, which is unanimously promoting higher-density development, especially on infill sites on transport corridors”.

It was also suggested the proposed housing should not be entirely social, but a mix of social and affordable; that there may not be sufficient school places in the area; and some submissions queried how existing residents will handle the extra development in terms of traffic.

The council report notes that a road improvement scheme is being planned in parallel with the scheme to improve the safety of access to the site.

The plans were passed by 24 votes to one.