115 rezoning submissions received across Cork city

Members of the public have proposed more than 100 bodies of land to be rezoned across Cork city to allow for the development of housing, Cork City Council has revealed.

Since July of last year, the local authority has been working to apply the requirements of guidelines for planning authorities published by the Department of Housing.

The guidelines also requested all local authorities to zone additional lands, by way of variation of development plans, for the short-term delivery of housing in accordance with these targets.

Before deciding on which lands to recommend for rezoning, Cork City Council had a public consultation whereby landowners, developers, and other interested parties were invited to make submissions on potentially suitable, serviced or serviceable lands to rezone.

The consultation ran for six weeks to November 10 last , and 115 submissions were received.

The council’s director of planning and integrated development, Niall Ó Donnabháin, said the submissions “collectively propos(ed) an amount of land far exceeding that required under the guidelines.”

Mr Ó Donnabháin said his team is currently analysing the submissions that have been received, and that they have also been investigating other potentially suitable sites for rezoning.

Environmental and flood risk assessments are required and will commence early this month, with the intention to coalesce these strands into a single proposed variation to the Cork City Development Plan in the first quarter of this year.