Cork council to buy large landbanks to provide social and affordable homes 

Councillors told lack of progress on provision of serviced sites due to Uisce Éireann not providing necessary services to make them viable

Priority is to be given to acquiring landbanks which have access to proper water and wastewater treatment systems. File picture

Cork County Council is set to buy substantial landbanks to provide more social, affordable and cost-rental homes.

Its chief executive Moira Murrell told the Irish Examiner her officials had already started the process of identifying suitable land which they intend to purchase to cater for an increasing output of homes in the coming years.

Priority is to be given to acquiring landbanks which have access to proper water and wastewater treatment systems, and it is expected they will be mainly concentrated around larger towns and villages which have the capacity and future capability to support such development.

Ms Murrell said the local authority would have to ensure “medium- and larger-sized schemes” would be prioritized to maximise delivery.

She made her comments after concerns were raised about the lack of progress being made by the council in providing "serviced sites" around the county.

These proved very successful some years ago when the council purchased land, provided it with roads, lighting, water and sewerage and sold off individual sites within them at discounted rates to people who had the money to build but not if they had to pay for land as well.

The council has some of these schemes on its books but has run into trouble because Uisce Éireann has not provided the necessary ‘hook-up’ of services to make them viable.

Concerns about that were raised jointly by Fine Gael councillors John Paul O’Shea and Caroline Cronin.

They sought a report on proposed opening of serviced sites, all five of which are currently planned only for North Cork.

However, they were informed the council had run into difficulties opening them up due to Uisce Éireann not providing the necessary services.

Most of the earmarked sites at Ballydesmond, Liscarroll, Kiskeam, Mitchelstown and Knocknagree cannot be opened for this reason.

Independent councillor Danny Collins and Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy expressed annoyance there were no such schemes in West Cork. The former said a scheme in Bantry 20 years ago had sold out almost immediately.

Independent councillor Finbarr Harrington said these schemes were badly needed in rural areas to keep locals in their communities.

“If this issue is not addressed it will have huge consequences, and people will move to other areas,” he added.

Ms Murrell said the council would look at them as part of an overall housing package it intended to deliver in the region in the future.

But she stressed serviced sites would only be one part of the “delivery” of the types of housing the council was planning for people who cannot afford to buy homes on the open market. 

She said council houses, affordable housing — which provides significant discounts on open market prices — and newer cost-rental homes would be the major programmes for the local authority going forward.

Ms Murrell added the council was engaging with Uisce Éireann to ensure it could maximise potential for house-building by ensuring the utility is in tune with the local authority's plans to ratchet up construction in the years to come so it has services in place to meet this.

Councillors and their officials are to meet Uisce Éireann senior officials on November 15 to discuss the plans in depth.