Scope for 200 houses in historic Castlemartyr village on €2m site

Level land for house building at €10k per house 'stand' is within the village, a ten-minute drive from beaches

Thu, 09 Jun, 2022 - 12:00

Tommy Barker

LAND within and beside an East Cork village’s boundary is up for sale, zoned for development, and with scope to deliver up to 200 new homes, subject to planning permission.

Listed with agent Johnny McKenna of Lisney, is a block of 33 acres for residential development at Castlemartyr village.

It is just off the village’s Main Street, east of the five-star hotel and golf resort on its 220 acres, between Midleton and Youghal, and about a 30 minute commute from Cork city.

Lisney guide the land at €2 million, the equivalent of €10,000 per house ‘stand,’ and say delivery of up to 200 units, in a rolled or phased development could suit.

Castlemartyr has a current population of c 2,000, and is a short drive from beaches like Garryvoe, with Ballycotton, Ballymaloe, and Shanagarry putting the area on a tourist map of the East Cork region — although the village is not on the imminent East Cork greenway route, as the former rail runs north of the village.

The pretty village current needs a bypass, and the failure to include it in bypass plans in the current National Development Plan caused a brief political flurry last year, when a TD threatened to resign over Castlemartyr’s omission.

Meanwhile, this village land with short to medium term future development scope, is described as being “a significant, level landholding extending to approximately 13.hectares (33 acres) with extensive frontage to the N25 Cork to Waterford Road.

Just under 20 acres are zoned ‘residential’ in the Cork County Development Plan, the 13.5 acre balance lies within the village settlement boundary, and the ancient settlement has a host of amenities.

The booming Little Island employment hub is a 15-20 minte distance by car, says Mr McKenna, who adds “the property represents an excellent residential development opportunity of scale on lands essentially forming part of Castlemartyr Village, with its range of amenities.

The property is within a short commute of Little Island... and has the potential to deliver up to 200 units on a phased basis.”