Last chance to have your say on plans to develop County Cork

A NEW Cork County Development Plan is due to come into force this summer. It sets out Cork County Council’s overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of the entire county for the next six years.

It is vital that all citizens have a voice and help shape the future of our local environment, community and our local authority.

We are now at the public consultation stage on the Proposed Amendments to the Draft Plan. This is the final opportunity for individuals and groups to have their say on the future development of County Cork.

I am encouraging people to make submissions on the amendments ahead of the closing date, on Tuesday, February 15.

We received more than 1,100 submissions to the Draft Plan in 2021 and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to make their views known. There were also 18 detailed meetings with my fellow Elected Members, building on the previous 46 meetings to prepare the Draft Plan itself. More than 1,600 Proposed Amendments have now been prepared.

The County Cork Development Plan is due to be finalised in April 2022 and will be the first of three County Development Plans, that when taken together will set a clear pathway for County Cork to achieve its ambitious Project Ireland 2040 targets.

It will be the first consolidated plan for the entire functional area of Cork County Council and relates to the new administrative boundary of the county which has been in place since May 2019. The new plan will replace the current County Development Plan, 2014 along with the current Clonakilty, Cobh, Fermoy, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow, Midleton, Skibbereen and Youghal Town Development Plans and the eight Municipal District Local Area Plans made in 2017.

I believe that this new plan will provide an ambitious blueprint for the lasting development of County Cork’s towns, villages and rural areas. The plan gives policy guidance on where people will be living, working and shopping, the community facilities they will use, where they will go to school or college and how they will travel between these places. Sustainable forms of transport such as walking and cycling where practicable will be given priority. 

All of these elements will form the building blocks to help improve the quality of life for all our citizens.

The population of County Cork is expected to grow by 59,000 people over the next six years. Additional housing units will be needed across the entire county. The plan caters for this and will help us to deliver 22,600 housing units and supporting services during that time.

The challenge is to deliver significant levels of affordable housing in the right locations and to improve the climate change resilience of our rural and urban communities to meet the challenges of the next decade. The aim is to build 3,800 housing units each year in County Metropolitan Cork, the ring and county towns, key villages, villages and rural areas.

We want to bring even more life into our town and village centres through regeneration, building upon previous Council initiatives. I’m looking forward to seeing vacant buildings reused and redeveloped as homes, businesses or community spaces. There is also a clear focus on improving public spaces and facilitating more cycling and walking.

I am also pleased to see a clear emphasis on addressing the challenge of climate change throughout this plan.

 There is a new policy on dealing with flood risk that will help to climate-proof future development. We recognise the importance of protecting and cherishing our biodiversity. There are a suite of policies in the plan to identify and safeguard our green infrastructure.

I hope to see significant support from our key infrastructure providers to help us to deliver the ambitions of this plan. We will need ongoing investment in water services, active travel, public transport and roads as well as social and community facilities. I hope that the targets we have set will be met and even exceeded with the support of Irish Water, the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

The public consultation ends at midnight on Tuesday, February 15 and I would encourage everyone to consider the proposed amendments and to have your say by making a submission. Full details including on how to make a submission are available on Cork County Council’s website www.corkcoco.ie

The ultimate aim of this and all development plans is to ensure County Cork is the most attractive, competitive and sustainable place to live, visit and do business. We want the quality of the economy, natural and built environment, culture as well as the viability of our rural and urban communities to be at the highest standards.

We can all help play our part in delivering that vision for our county.