'Couple of hundred' gardens face compulsory purchase orders in 'worst-case scenario' for Cork Luas

The initial route for the Cork Luas had shown the westbound Luas travelling down Melbourn Rd, onto Curraheen Rd, and then Bishopstown Rd.

As many as “a couple of hundred” gardens and seven buildings may face full or partial compulsory purchase to make way for the  Cork Luas, in what Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has called “the worst-case scenario”.

At the launch of the preferred route of the €2.5bn-plus light rail, TII officials conceded that the drawings showed the Luas cutting through schools, sports clubs, and residential properties, principally in the Bishopstown area.

However, TII head of light rail delivery Fergus Meehan said the purpose of publishing the revised route was to prompt engagement with local stakeholders and to elicit their responses before the final design stage.

“That feedback will inform future design, so what’s presented today is the worst-case scenario. It allows us to start that consultation process,” he said.

The initial route had shown the westbound Luas travelling down Melbourn Rd, onto Curraheen Rd, and then Bishopstown Rd.

However, the "preferred route" now turns left and east at the northern end of Melbourn Rd, running uphill past or through the grounds of Bishopstown Community School, Bishopstown GAA, Highfield Rugby Club, and Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh.

Traffic congestion

It cuts through Bishopstown GAA’s most westerly pitch and between Highfield’s two fields, while it takes a corner from St Columba’s Convent before turning down into Cork University Hospital (CUH).

It then runs through several back gardens on the eastern side of Wilton Ave, before emerging on Bishopstown Rd at the front of CUH, and then heads for the Wilton roundabout.

Mr Meehan said the initial route along Melbourn Rd would have impacted 14 businesses and more than 40 properties, with considerable loss to garden spaces, but the key deciding factor was the prospect of traffic congestion on Curraheen Rd.

Over to the eastern end of the preferred route, in Ballintemple, there were very some minor tweaks to the light rail line, and project manager Sarah O’Donnell said TII had looked at “reinstatement of The Venue bar [as] a smaller pub”.

Last April, when publican Con Dennehy’s customers told him the Luas tracks would be going through his pub, he asked if it was a belated April fool’s joke.

He and his partner, Kate Tierney, have run the popular bar on the corner of Churchyard Lane and the Blackrock Rd  for more than 11 years.

He said he had heard that TII was offering him a smaller pub, but he was unimpressed. He said TII had told him the new bar would be roughly the size of the city centre Roundy House, which is considerably smaller than The Venue.

“Assuming that they take it off of us, knock it, rebuild it as something smaller on the left-hand corner — how feasible that would be with a Luas running by it, I don’t know — by the time that’s built, I’ll most certainly be pushing up daisies,” Mr Dennehy said.

Speaking at the launch of the preferred route, TII head of light rail projects Paolo Carbone said that, subject to funding and permission, the first trains could run by 2036.