Cork City Council ordered to scrap zoning on several sites

Planning minister said proposed zonings in new city development plan were inconsistent with guidelines around compact growth

Planning Minister Peter Burke said the development plan 2022-2028 was inconsistent with national and regional policy objectives on compact growth, was inconsistent with policies promoting strategic planning in the provision of education, and on locating schools close to public transport and active travel modes. Picture: Damien Storan

The minister for local government and planning has ordered Cork City Council to scrap the zoning on several sites in the new city development plan.

Of the eight changes directed by Minister of State Peter Burke, seven were introduced by way of amendments proposed by city councillors to the draft city development plan against the advice of city planners.

Mr Burke said the development plan 2022-2028 was inconsistent with national and regional policy objectives on compact growth, was inconsistent with policies promoting strategic planning in the provision of education, and on locating schools close to public transport and active travel modes; and that the plan fails to have regard to the sequential approach to development.

It means the landbanks revert, with immediate effect, to the zonings which were published in the draft plan, leading to:

• A docklands site on Centre Park Road reverting from mixed-use development to education;
• A site at Knocknahorgan, Glanmire, reverting to city hinterland from sustainable residential neighbourhoods;
• A site in Upper Glanmire reverting to city hinterland from new residential neighbourhoods, except for a section which already has planning for housing;
• Lands at Sallybrook/Riverstown reverting to landscape preservation zones from new residential neighbourhoods.
• Another site in upper Glanmire reverting to city hinterland from new residential neighbourhoods;
• Land at Kilcully reverting to city hinterland from new residential neighbourhoods;
• And lands at Stoneview and Ringwood, south of the N20 near Blarney, reverting from new residential neighbourhoods to city hinterland and longer-term strategic development lands.

The minister’s direction follows the intervention of the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) earlier this year in response to the publication of the draft plan for public consultation.

It expressed specific concerns about the zoning for residential development of a number of landbanks which it said would not adhere to guidelines around compact growth — building within existing cities and towns rather than greenfield areas.

The OPR said a five-hectare landbank in Glanmire had no apparent vehicular access, it criticised the proposed zoning of land in Kilcully as it was deemed “remote from a definable urban centre and from public transport”, and it criticised zonings at Ringwood and Stoneview because the sites are “peripherally located" and are "not well served by public transport".

But city councillors pressed ahead with the amendments, voting for the new zonings, and the plan came into effect in August, prompting the OPR to write to the minister, which led to his direction to the council on Friday.

Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill, chair of the council’s roads and transportation strategic policy committee, said he was disappointed at the intervention.

“The most infuriating aspect of this is that my request to the OPR to appoint an independent inspector to review the situation, as is provided for in the legislation, was refused,” he said.

“I have visited many of the sites at issue here, and in some cases, what’s included in the OPR’s submission is just factually incorrect.

“I will be looking now for city officials to bring forward variations of the city development plan to address this."

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He stressed what was at issue was zoning issues only and not planning issues, which could be dealt with at a later stage if planning applications on the various landbanks were made.