Cork City Council rezones 260 hectares of land for housing despite strong local objections

Plan could see tens of thousands of homes built. File picture

More than 260 hectares of land in Cork City are to be rezoned for residential use, under plans that could see tens of thousands of homes built.

Responding to new national guidelines around housing growth issued by the Government last year, city council management asked for suggestions from the public on land that could be rezoned for housing, and received proposals largely from developers and landowners.

These proposals, to redesignate undeveloped land to facilitate housing developments there, were put to councillors in the form of a variation to the city development plan.

After hours of debate and 15 different votes at a meeting of Cork City Council, councillors voted against the plans for just one area of the city, despite strong local objection to the plans for many others.

Some 93 hectares are set to be rezoned in Ballyvolane, and were approved without debate, but lots of smaller sections saw opposition from councillors.

One resident of Moneygourney in Douglas called out “shame on you all” to councillors, as she and other locals walked out of the public gallery after plans for their area were approved.

A total of 484 submissions were made to the council as part of a public consultation, and more than 60 of these related to the Moneygourney plans, which will see nearly 20 hectares of land rezoned in two different areas.

The majority of the submissions raised concerns about traffic congestion, public transport provision, road safety, infrastructure capacity and surface water management issues.

Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy said, when urging councillors to vote against Moneygourney plans, he was concerned “that the narrative is very much a case of getting as many houses up as possible and not thinking about the consequences on planning”.

However, the plans were approved by 21 councillors, with eight against.

Plans were also approved for Sallybrook in Glanmire, despite more than 110 objections from the public and 10 councillors voting against, expressing concerns like a lack of space, amenities, and consistent water outages due to the level of recent development in the area.

The only plans voted against by councillors were for 3.5 hectares in Kerry Pike, which were shot down by a vote with 22 councillors against and just seven for after more than 140 objections were received from the public.

Urging councillors to vote against the plans and a proposed amendment, Fianna Fáil’s Dr John Sheehan said that area’s population had increased three times in recent years, and was still waiting for buses and footpaths.

“The community is straining under the pace of this development”, and there should be no more development there until the supporting infrastructure is in place, he said.

Amendments were also agreed for others areas that had seen local opposition; Lehenaghmore, Spur Hill, Belmont Avenue, Castletreasure and Kilcully — votes against each proposal were largely from councillors representing that area.

During often heated debates on whether areas had sufficient infrastructure to handle more housing, many councillors in favour of the plans reiterated they were only voting to rezone the land.

Any future plans for housing on the rezoned land will still have to go through the normal planning processes.