First phase of Lee walk opens

THE first phase of the €3 million ‘Banks of the Lee’ walkway, first suggested almost 20 years ago, was finally opened to the public yesterday.

And Cork City Council confirmed that a dispute over land that had been preventing the roll-out of the second phase has at last been resolved.

The rest of the walkway, which will eventually link the city centre to the Lee Fields, could be completed by the end of the year.

The news emerged yesterday morning after Lord Mayor Deirdre Clune declared the North Mall to the Mardyke Bridge section of the walk open to the public. First suggested in the 1980s, the project was kicked about for many years.

It was among the council’s many Millennium projects but only began to take shape last March when a €1m pedestrian bridge was dropped into place at the Mardyke.

Dignitaries crossed that striking Fehilly Timoney and Gifford-designed 58 metre-long, three metre-wide, single-arch steel bridge yesterday.

It will also facilitate the movement of thousands of UCC students from the college’s southside campus to its northside campus.

However, the wrangle over a portion of land behind the Sacred Heart Church had stalled development of the next section.

That has been resolved, a council spokesman said.

Following an oral hearing, An Bord Pleanála has given the council the go-ahead to acquire the land.

Work on the route from the Mardyke, through Fitzgerald’s Park, behind the church grounds, over a new bridge to a walkway behind the Kingsley Hotel, and on to the Lee Fields, will begin as soon as possible, the spokesman said.

Once complete, the Banks of the Lee walk will link with the Curraheen River walkway behind the former Tennis Village and a new walkway being planned from Inchigaggin Bridge into Murphy’s Farm.

Meanwhile, the council extended until tomorrow its tender deadline for a skate park close to the Mardyke Bridge.