Cork city councillors to hold public meeting on €80m port plans

Cork city councillors are hosting a public meeting on Monday ahead of the anticipated application by the Port of Cork Company (PoCC) to build a new €80m interchange at Tivoli.

The company announced last week that it will be applying for planning permission this month to upgrade access to its Tivoli Docks site.

The plans include changes to local road infrastructure, so that the site could better be used for homes in future, when PoCC moves its operations to Ringaskiddy and Marino Point, as planned.

A planning application is expected to be made in December, when the public will have five weeks to make their views known, at a cost of €20 per observation.

Incredible

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran and Labour Party councillor John Maher have organised a meeting for 7.30pm next week in Glanmire Community Centre.

Mr Moran said: “It’s an incredible approach that’s being taken by the Port of Cork. They are intending to use the private planning process to build a new interchange on a public dual carriageway.

“People will be used to the public consultations that have taken place for the Northern Distributor Rd or BusConnects. None of that will happen this time.

“In fact, the public will have to pay money if they want to have their say.

“There’s a significant danger, too, that people will assume the information event being organised on November 20 is a consultation event.

“It’s not, and comments and feedback that anyone provides at that event won’t be part of the consultation process.”

No consultation

Mr Maher added: “The way the Port of Cork has gone about this planning application is wrong, and not how we should be planning for a city.

“The suggestion that this is for 6,500 houses, without a planning application for these, stinks. The road infrastructure proposed will lead to increased traffic towards Mayfield and Glanmire.

“No consultation with the public, and little with Cork City Council, leads me to believe that the plan is to build this infrastructure, but continue to operate the port from Tivoli.

“I’m urging all residents to make a submission and have your say.

“Houses can be built with modifications to existing infrastructure, like the planned train stop and the North Docks, not another interchange that brings cars closer to another traffic jam.”

A special meeting of the Cork City Council Transport and Mobility SPC is being convened for Monday, November 25, by its chairman, Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan, following an emergency motion that was put forward by Mr Moran at last Monday’s meeting of Cork City Council. The PoCC is being invited to attend.

Proposed

A PoCC spokesperson told The Echo: “The infrastructure is being proposed to prepare the Tivoli lands for their eventual redevelopment in the next decades, with plans that are in extensive consultation and alignment with Cork City Council and a number of State agencies, including Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transportation Authority, and the Land Development Agency.

“Early planning for enabling infrastructure is a cornerstone of good practice in sustainable planning and development.”