Watchdog quizzes council's plans to rezone lands outside Douglas for housing

Cork City Council's proposal raises concerns over potential impact on existing traffic levels in area

Cork City Council said its proposal is to facilitate residential development in an area of high demand.

The State’s planning watchdog has questioned plans by Cork City Council to rezone lands for housing on the outskirts of Douglas amid concerns of their potential impact on existing traffic levels in the area.

Cork City Council has proposed an amendment to the Ballincollig-Carrigaline Municipal District Local Area Plan to rezone lands at Castletreasure that are currently designated a greenbelt area as suitable for housing.

The proposed changes relate to a 22-hectare site on the Carrigaline Road.

However, the Office of the Planning Regulator has called on the council to first conduct a detailed traffic and transport study before considering the proposed amendment.

The OPR said the study should determine the potential impact of any future development on traffic levels on the N28 Cork-Ringaskiddy road, which is due to be upgraded to motorway status as well as the potential for the site to be served by sustainable transport modes.

The regulator recommended that the council should abandon its plans to rezone the Castletreasure lands if the study did not show positive results.

Demand for housing

The council said the purpose of the amendment was mainly to facilitate residential development in an area of high housing demand.

Council planners said there were already large housing estates in nearby Maryborough with ongoing development including approval for 449 new homes at Maryborough Ridge, while planning permission was also recently granted to Cairn Homes to build 472 new homes on an adjoining site at Castletreasure.

The council said:

Development of this site is desirable in terms of both general planning principles and national policy on compact urban growth.

It predicted there would be strong demand for new housing at the location at a time when there was an urgent need for more residential development in the city.

In a submission to the council, the OPR acknowledged that the council is faced with a pressing need to provide for the growth of the city, including new housing.

It also noted that there have been unprecedented structural and policy changes within the planning system particularly due to boundary changes between city and county that had created significant complexities for the planning of the city.

However, OPR deputy regulator, Anne Marie O’Connor, said the rezoning of further greenbelt areas would be more appropriately carried out under the process of drafting a new development plan for Cork City.

Ms O’Connor said the lands at Castletreasure had not been identified in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy 2040 as an area for growth because it was not situated on existing bus or rail routes, although a new bus service is planned to serve the Carrigaline Road.

She said:

This peripheral greenfield site is not ideally located to accommodate population expansion in terms of existing or proposed public transport provision.

However, she acknowledged the proposed Ballybrack cycleway will run along the Carrigaline Road.

The OPR said the site’s proximity to the N28 and connections to the national road network would make it attractive to private car-based development.

It pointed out that a Strategic Land Reserve report on the Cork area, that had highlighted how the local road network suffered from heavy congestion at peak times which over-spilled onto the N28 and South Ring Road, had advised that the Castletreasure lands required a traffic and transport study before being considered for rezoning.

Traffic congestion 

Ms O’Connor said there was the potential for housing development on the lands to become “heavily car based” which could have significant effects on road infrastructure in the area including the N28.

She said there was no indication that the issue had been considered in a strategic environmental assessment prepared by the council.

The OPR pointed out that a strategic goal of the National Planning Framework set a clear target that at least 50% of all new homes in Cork and other cities should be developed within their existing footprint.

Ms O’Connor said recommendations made by the OPR relate to clear breaches of national or regional planning policy or ministerial guidelines.

If the council fails to adopt the OPR’s recommendation, the regulator, Niall Cussen, can advise the Minister for State for Local Government and Planning, Peter Burke, to use his powers to direct the council to take such action.