Massive Cork docks plan came as a ‘bombshell’ says councillor

The Port of Cork (PoCC) will be applying for planning permission this month to upgrade access to its Tivoli Docks site under plans that Cork city councillors have described as “preposterous” and “a bombshell”.

In line with its Masterplan 2050, PoCC intends to consolidate its port operations at Ringaskiddy and at Marino Point, and to transition out of Tivoli Docks and City Quays in the medium- to long-term.

Its plans to upgrade access are with a view to future development of the site for a potential 6,500 new homes. The plans include a new, eastern, multi-modal road, bus, and cycleway interchange infrastructure at the Glanmire Rd roundabout, the removal of the existing roundabout, the enabling of free-flow traffic, and an upgraded, western multi-modal access at Silversprings, also with road, bus, and cycleway infrastructure. Both accesses prioritise bus connectivity, and walking, and cycling to and from the site.

Separately, Iarnród Éireann is preparing plans for a new commuter railway station at Tivoli, and Cork City Council is designing an active travel cycleway and a walkway through the site.

PoCC is also in discussion with a number of State agencies, including the Land Development Agency (LDA), in relation to the future redevelopment of Tivoli.

A report published by the LDA earlier this year identified that the site could facilitate the development of 4,830 to 6,510 homes.

The report said that there were high transport and other infrastructural requirements at the site, meaning delivering the homes would cost between €1.59bn and €2.14bn.

Ann Doherty, former Cork City Council chief executive and now chief executive of PoCC, said: “We are readying Tivoli for future redevelopment, and seeking planning permission for improved access in and out of Tivoli is an important first step in its future redevelopment, acknowledging this will likely take time.”

Cork city councillors were invited to a meeting with the Port of Cork on Wednesday evening, and Green Party councillor for the area, Oliver Moran, told The Echo that this news came as a “bombshell” to them.

“It’s not in any plan, no one saw it coming,” he said.

“It’s preposterous that a full new interchange on a dual carriageway into the city would be brought forward through a private planning application, as if it was an extension to someone’s house.

“It hasn’t been presented at any committee of Cork City Council. It’s not coming from Cork City Council or Transport Infrastructure Ireland, who are the roads authorities.

“It’s being pitched as if it’s for housing, but the redevelopment of Tivoli is a decade or more away.

“In reality, what’s happening now is that nobody sees the Port of Cork leaving there, and this will be the main entrance in and out.”

He said that a project of this scale would need to be knitted into the city’s transport strategy, and that the effects on motorists and people wanting to use new active travel in Glanmire need to be examined.

“It adds to journey time by active travel and removes the planned active travel bridges, putting cyclists and pedestrians on the same infrastructure as motorists.

“We need to ask too where traffic from the Port of Cork will go.

“Even in time, if this layout is used for residents in Tivoli, I don’t see how they will exit eastward easily in the morning commute.”

Labour’s John Maher said he is concerned that the new infrastructure would make it harder for pedestrians and cyclists, saying all the works in the city need to complement each other, saying: “We should be promoting the 15-minute city, it’s not all about road infrastructure.”

A public information event will be held at the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs in Cork on Thursday, November 20, where members of the public are invited to meet the design team and PoCC project team between 4pm and 7pm.

A PoCC spokesperson told The Echo that a consultation process with all relevant stakeholders is under way, and that in the latest Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028 Two Year Progress Report, “it is set out and recognised clearly that access into and out of the Tivoli Docks site will be required in the future”.