Planners say 58,000 new homes needed

A new blueprint for the future of Cork county points to 58,000 new housing units being needed by 2022 to accommodate population growth.

The County Development Plan, envisages the population in the county area will increase, within eight years, to more than 470,000 — up 71,000 from the 2011 census.

Senior county council planners say the likely house-build figures have already taken into account the number of unoccupied houses in ghost estates.