Cork City needs close to 21,000 houses built by 2030 to meet targets

Cork City Council now aims to deliver 20,972 units by the end of 2030. Under the city's current development plan, there is an annual target to deliver 2,706 houses per year in Cork City. Picture: Chani Anderson

Almost 21,000 houses will need to be built in Cork City by the end the decade to meet the Government’s revised housing growth targets.

Cork City Council now aims to deliver 20,972 units by the end of 2030. Under the city's current development plan, there is an annual target to deliver 2,706 houses per year in Cork City.

However, recent guidelines from government encourages revised development plans to provide a further 50% uplift in housing targets each year, meaning Cork City Council can plan for a further 1,353 houses each year.

The revised growth targets stem from the government’s direction to local authorities to zone more land for residential development.

Cork City Council chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan confirmed in a report that the local authority intends to zone a further 250-280ha of land for residential development. This is alongside the 450ha of land zoned for residential development already within the council’s boundaries, which it estimates could deliver between 22,000 and 36,000 new homes.

It is expected that a revised development plan for the city will be completed by the summer.

Minister's instruction

Moves to increase the level of zoned land in Cork come following a request from housing minister James Browne, who instructed all local authorities to revise targets. 

Last month, Mr Browne threatened local authorities with “serious measures” if they do not act quickly to increase the amount of land zoned for housing.

However, as of February, only Mayo and Waterford councils had completed the rezoning process.

This had led to some criticism, with Cork-based developer Michael O’Flynn calling for the Government to introduce laws to directly zone land itself and override local authorities.

“I’m utterly convinced that we’re not going to fix the zoning issue now, having seen how some local authorities are performing, without the Government taking a direct hand,” he said.

Peter Horgan, a Labour councillor for the south-east ward, said that any land rezoned by the council needs to have both “deliverability and sustainability” built in.

“Intentions won’t help anyone experiencing homelessness this weekend, we have to ensure that any land rezoned can deliver homes in a fast but sustainable way so that communities are built,” Mr Horgan said.