‘People keep our city buzzing — not cars’

Expert says claim that Cork city’s streets are half-empty is misleading, writes Eoin English

AN academic, town planner, and an expert in sustainable development has urged Cork’s city management to resist calls for free parking and extra parking spaces.

William Brady, who is involved in research and teaching in UCC’s new Programme in Planning and Sustainable Development, said city centres should resist the temptation to become more like suburban shopping centres.

And he said contrary to perceptions, Cork city centre is actually performing quite well.

Brady said comments made by Judge Olann Kelleher painted “a very misleading picture”. While hearing a raft of commercial rates cases at Cork District Court in November, the judge said city centre streets like the South Mall and Oliver Plunkett St were “half empty”. He said this created the impression of a city centre that was experiencing extreme levels of vacancy, dereliction, and a lack of activity and vitality

“The city centre is in fact performing quite well relative to other urban locations and considering the threats it faces from suburban competition and wider economic difficulties,” Brady said. “When thinking about our city and town centres, one thing we must remember is that pedestrians spend money, cars do not.

“In simple terms, we need people walking down our main streets, not driving.

“In trying to compete with out-of-town shopping, city centres should strongly resist the temptation to become more like suburban shopping centres.

“We hear, for example, of calls for free parking or extra car parking provision in city centres.

“These are exactly the type of things that city management need to resist and this type of approach will only decrease the attractiveness and vitality of our central areas.”

He said the unique selling point of city centres is their distinctiveness, their unique character and atmosphere, their vibrancy and land use mix, the variety of leisure, cultural, artistic, and social attractions, and, critically, the availability of a diverse and quality range of dining and entertainment.

“Cork City scores quite well in this regard — this is what gives our city centres a competitive edge — the sense of place and historic importance as centres of trade, commerce, and social life for hundreds of years,” he said.

“The evidence from all over Europe shows us that as long as you have an attractive and appealing city centre core with all of those ingredients, people will continue to frequent those centres in large numbers, even when parking costs are high and access is constrained.”

Brady pointed to studies which show that in many cities, the most important factor influencing people’s decision to visit a city centre is the availability of food and drink, which often ranks above a city centre’s shopping offer.

He said too many car parks in central city areas is a dangerous strategy because in the long term, they generate two things that should be avoided — lots of traffic and urban blight.

Brady said Cork should try to reduce the amount of car parking on the central island, with visitors to the city centre who travel by car using car parks just off the ‘island’.

“This way, you increase the attractiveness of the city centre for pedestrians, who spend money, and reduce congestion on the bridges and quaysides, allowing the city centre to re-engage with both channels of the River Lee,” he said.

“In the last decade in Ireland, we experienced a phenomenal increase in retail provision (Ireland has one of the highest per capita retail floorspace in the EU) and much of this was located in new out-of-centre and suburban locations or in retail warehouse parks.

“It is likely that this growth in floorspace was excessive and overly speculative and what’s there is certainly an over-provision of retail in many of these out-of-centre locations.

“However, many town and city centres are also experiencing difficulties with increased levels of vacancy, instances of dereliction, and a decline in activity.

“In Cork’s case, its city centre has faced stiff competition from the established out-of-centre shopping centres in Blackpool, Mahon, Douglas, and Wilton.

“Overall, I would consider that the balance between the city centre and the suburban centres to be reasonably healthy and the city and county council have generally co-operated on retail policy for the two jurisdictions — this attempts to ensure a more balanced approach to retail planning for the wider metropolitan area and this type of joined-up thinking needs to be encourage and improved.”

He praised planners in Cork City for being proactive over the last decade in improving the city centre, including investment in appearance, street improvements, and major retail projects such as Opera Lane.

UCC’s Planning School conducted a city-wide employment and land-use study for Cork City Council during the summer of 2011, which recorded the occupancy levels of each street in the city centre.

“Contrary to the impression given by Judge Kelleher’s remarks, neither the South Mall nor Oliver Plunkett St can be described as resembling ‘half-empty’ streets,” Brady said.

“The 2011 figures record that the ground-floor building occupancy rate, the most important measure of street activity and vitality, on Oliver Plunkett St was 89% and 84.5% on the South Mall.

“More recent validation surveys, carried out on Thursday, Dec 5, show that occupancy levels on the South Mall have remained constant while figures for Oliver Plunkett St have actually increased to 95%.”

Figures from other parts of the city centre retail core from the 2011 survey showed respectable occupancy rates, with 89% on St Patrick’s St and 95% on the Winthrop/Cook/Marlboro/Princes Street block.

MacCurtain Street showed 82% occupancy, Grand Parade showed 70% occupancy, and Washington St showed 85% occupancy.

“These results highlight some clear signs of a robust business and retail environment in certain parts — a highly active zone from Oliver Plunkett St towards St Patrick’s St, Opera Lane, the Paul St area, and Emmet Place,” Brady said.

“However, it also indicates the existence of some vacancy clusters in western parts of St Patrick’s St, MacCurtain St, and Merchant’s Quay Shopping Centre, and some severe vacancy levels on the Grand Parade, in particular.

“In the case of the Grand Parade, the survey results somewhat distort the actual vacancy level, which is probably significantly higher than 30%, because it records buildings as opposed to floorspace and there are three very large sites — the Capitol Cineplex, City Library, and Citi Car Park site — with a significant presence which impact negatively on that street’s activity levels.

“These three sites, which have been assembled as speculative development opportunities, are very important locations for future city centre expansion, and it would be very important to encourage in particular the redevelopment of the Capitol cinema site as soon as possible as it would rejuvenate that end of St Patrick’s St and improve a highly visible and significant prime city centre site at the western entrance to the city centre.

“More detailed land-use analysis in the case of Oliver Plunkett St clearly highlights it as a very positive example of a vibrant city shopping street with a healthy mix of land uses, a varied presence of local, national, and international traders, a high-quality, pedestrian-friendly environment, and occupancy levels that are highly respectable given the wider economic circumstances.

“The traffic calming and pedestrian priority measures have been very effective in helping that quarter of the city centre and the Parnell Place end of the street has finally begun to show signs of major uplift.”