Residents have alternative plan for proposed Cork city apartment development

A group of residents opposing an apartment development in Blackpool have appealed to the council to consider their alternative plan.

Cork City Council is proposing to construct 67 apartments and a community facility, ranging from three- to six-storeys on a site at Gerald Griffin St in plans due to be voted on by councillors on Monday.

A group of residents have put together an alternative proposal with an engineer, which they say would actually provide more bedspaces than the proposed council plan, in addition to including parking.

Chris McCarthy, a local resident, told The Echo the plans are “totally unsuitable” for the area, and that residents are concerned by the proposed height of the development, and lack of parking.

“We have chronic parking problems already — you cannot get a parking space,” he said. “We have huge concerns about the proposal from a health and safety view also. Their road safety audit was done during August, the quietest time of the year, and only for half an hour.”

Their alternative proposal was sent in after the council’s closing date for submissions, but addresses the concerns raised in over 300 submissions from locals previously submitted.

Not aware of the plans

Mr McCarthy said that many residents were not aware of the plans until the consultation period was almost over, and that it should have been better advertised.

Local councillors have met with residents, and the group hope they will vote against the current proposals so that the council will look at their alternative plan.

Their development of lower-rise, back-to-back units, with a parking space for every apartment, has been drawn to the scale of the existing apartments in the nearby gated development adjacent to Neptune Stadium.

These plans would create 78 individual apartments with the potential for 234 bedspaces, compared to the 212 proposed in the council plans.

Fianna Fáil councillor Dr John Sheehan said councillors would have a final meeting this week, but it is understood that current plans would be a reduction from 67 to approximately 43 apartments and from six to four storeys, though there will still be no parking.

Sinn Féin’s Kenneth Collins said the council had amended the proposal significantly, including changing the colour of the windows to better match other buildings in the area. He felt that he would be voting in favour of these amended plans.

“I haven’t voted against any Part 8 development since I became a councillor, we can’t be voting against housing,” he said.

He said while he understood the frustration of residents and had been working with them, their alternative proposal had not been costed.