Plans for new town to be unveiled

Plans for the largest town ever to be built in Co Cork, which will be bigger than Glanmire and Carrigaline combined, are to be officially unveiled next week.

Cork County Council will announce its intention to rezone 1,000 acres of greenbelt land at Monard, near Blarney, on the northside of Cork City.

The site is capable of supporting more than 8,000 homes, a third-level institution, schools, and large amenity areas.

To put that in context, satellite towns Carrigaline has approximately 4,500 houses and Glanmire 3,600.

Sources within the local authority have indicated this is “a long-term project”, with a lifespan of 20 to 25 years and is designed to kick in when the economic recession ends.

The town centre will be complimented within the 1,000 acres with three “adjoining villages”, a source said.

While Cork still has a small number of ghost estates, the council believe pressure will come on for more housing in the year to come and the Monard plan is part of the solution to tackling the expected growth in population.

The site is viewed as a “strategic development”, akin to growth in east Cork region along the Glounthaune, Carrigtwohill, and Midleton corridor.

That growth facilitated the opening of the Cork-Midleton railway line by Iarnród Éireann in Jul 2009.

The county council is working on the premise that Monard will be linked with a new commuter rail line on the Cork-Mallow route.

“The idea is that the new town will be serviced by a railway station on its southern side. There will also be commuter stations developed in Blarney and Blackpool to bring workers into the city, and also indeed to Mallow, without them having to use their cars and clog up the roads,” a source said.

Councillors will discuss the proposal next Monday, after which it will go out to public consultation.

It will then come back to councillors in September to either ratify or reject.

This is not the first time plans for the town have been discussed. In 2010, the government gave the green light to create plans for the first purpose-built town in Monard. At the time, county manager Martin Riordan said plans would be in place possibly within three to four years to coincide with the likely upturn in building.