Move to fast-track revised €80m hospital application
Developer Owen O’Callaghan is to seek to fast-track a revised application for a hospital/clinic for the old Jurys Hotel site on Lancaster Quay/Western Road.
The planning appeals body refused permission for the scheme in September, on the basis of flooding risks in the area, which could jeopardise access to and from the hospital site.
The site, and the adjoining River Lee Hotel (old Jurys) did not flood during last year’s city floods, though roads around it did.
O’Callaghan Properties (OCP) now argues that “there are very clear site-specific solutions to the problem of site access raised by An Bord Pleanála even in the event of the kind of extraordinary flooding that occurred last year”.
A firm spokesperson said by addressing those changes, they aimed to proceed with their proposal to develop the clinic on the site.
And, as hospitals were deemed to be strategic developments, an application could be made directly to the board, they said.
The plan was twice approved by Cork City Council, and twice rejected by the appeals board to date.
The project, if granted planning permission, has the potential to create 350 building jobs, and 300 permanent jobs.
OCP managing director Owen O’Callaghan said his company has spent the last few weeks reviewing the planning board’s decision, but also re-examining the business case for proceeding with this project.
“This is a viable, desirable project for Cork,” he said.
“It is fully funded, has medical consultants and international clinic operators in place and can start immediately planning permission is received.
“We are very encouraged by the strong, continuing support for this project from the medical profession since the Bord Pleanála refusal... likewise, there has been broad public support and encouragement from a wide range of Cork stakeholders for the project.”
And, following discussion with other stake-holders, and the city council, Mr O’Callaghan noted “there is a broader issue here also. If the basis for a planning refusal is a fear that an extraordinary event which is most unlikely to ever recur in our lifetime could somehow be repeated, then much development land in Cork city, including the docklands, will be sterilised and can never be developed. That simply does not make sense and clearly that is not the intention of An Bord Pleanála”.
Site-specific solutions to flooding concerns should be fully explored before projects are refused planning permission, particularly in this economic climate, while recommended infrastructural work upstream and downstream of the Inniscarra dam should ensure no repeat of last year’s devastating floods, he added.
