City officials defend contentious CPO bid for Docklands site

AN BÓRD Pleanála has enough evidence to confirm a contentious compulsory purchase order (CPO) on 10 hectares of prime land in Cork’s docklands, a local authority said yesterday.

Solicitor Pearse Sreenan, representing the city council, said city officials had, over the course of a four-day hearing on the issue, provided more than enough evidence demonstrating the need for the CPO.

“The evidence tendered by the objectors borders on the absurd,” he said.

The CPO has been served on five sites around Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the largest of which is the eight-hectare Showgrounds site, which the Munster Agricultural Society (MAS) leases from the council.

The council wants to secure the land, which it says is derelict and underused, to develop Marina Park, a huge public park which, it says, will kickstart the city’s €2 billion docklands regeneration.

The MAS and CAB motor company, which stores cars on the Showgrounds site, have objected to the CPO.

Mr Sreenan told hearing chairman Michael Wall, on the final day of the hearing yesterday, that city officials had demonstrated the lands were under-used.

The MAS has breached the terms of its lease by allowing car and tile storage on the Showgrounds site, he said.

“This is unlawful and creates difficulty for the city of Cork. The people have lost the use of the Showgrounds,” he said.

MAS plans for a hotel and a 5,000-seat conference centre on the site, which were drawn up in recent weeks and presented to the hearing on Tuesday, were “entirely unrealistic and fanciful”, Mr Sreenan said.

“There is no business plan. The plans are entirely incompatible with the public open space zoning of the site,” he said.

It emerged yesterday that the MAS has not secured funding for the project.

He said the plans for the area, as outlined in the City Development Plan 2004, are a contract with the people of Cork.

“The plan clearly identifies the site as public open space. At no stage did objectors make a submission,” he said.

Mr Sreenan admitted it was premature to develop the park. But he said developers would not invest in the area until open space was provided. “The city will be the spark that starts this redevelopment,” he said.

“It has to start somewhere. The city is taking the bold step in issuing the CPO.”

He said establishing a park on the site would give confidence to developers.

Mr Sreenan dismissed an argument put forward by the MAS on Tuesday that safety zones around oil and chemical plants in the area would threaten the entire docklands project.

“The evidence is that the council is working on having those industry’s relocated. Once they move, there will be no Seveso sites in the area.”

The council has already given planning permission for a McCarthy Developments housing project in the area, he said.

Solicitor Daryl Broderick, acting for Examiner Publications, lodged an objection against the CPO with Mr Wall towards the end of the hearing.

He said his clients were claiming title to a small stand in the Showgrounds.

Mr Wall noted the objection and closed the hearing.

His report should be completed within six weeks with a decision from An Bórd Pleanála expected early in the new year.