Port of Cork Submission to Cork City Development Plan 2022 - 2028

Please refer to the report attached. 

The draft CCDP identifies Tivoli as falling with the ‘Inner Urban Suburban’ category in terms of the Density and Building Heights Strategy. The target building height for lands within this category is in the range of 3 to 5 storeys.

It is submitted that Tivoli would be more appropriately zoned within the ‘City’ Density and Building Heights Strategy categorisation, alongside the City Centre, North Dock and South Docks for the following reasons:

▪   Tivoli is recognised as potential international exemplar of sustainable waterfront regeneration.

▪     The sustainable growth of Tivoli is identified as inextricably linked to Cork City achieving its ambitious growth targets.

▪     Significant investment in public transport infrastructure is proposed to deliver a new train station and pedestrian and cycling connectivity to the site.

▪     The National Planning Framework states that there will be a need for significant accelerated and urban focused growth to achieve its ambitious targets.

▪   National Policy Objective states that building height should be based on performance criteria

▪     The Building Height Guidelines 2018 call for the support of increased building heights in locations with good public transport and that there should not be blanket numerical limitations on building heights.

As a new urban quarter, with excellent public transport connections, Tivoli is well placed to support tall buildings subject to performance-based criteria. The designation of Tivoli as an ‘Inner Urban Suburban’ location is not appropriate to its development potential and importance in delivering growth targets for Cork.

The National Planning Framework (NPF) provides ambitious growth targets for the southern region, which are to be focused on compact growth to ensure sustainable development. These growth targets have been reflected in the draft CCDP.  The NPF identifies Cork as a city emerging as an international centre of scale, well placed to complement Dublin but in the need of significant accelerated and urban focused growth to achieve this role more fully. The NPF recognizes that to accommodate the level of growth required there will have to be a more dynamic approach to urban land use and that the existing character of land in urban areas may be subject to change.

The NPF supports, compact growth with an emphasis on the redevelopment of brownfield sites and a presumption in favour of development that can encourage more people and generate more jobs and activities within cities.

National Policy Objective 13 states that in urban areas, planning and related standards, including building height and car parking should be based on performance criteria that seek to achieve well- designed high-quality outcomes to achieve targeted growth.

The Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy for the Southern Region (RSES) identifies the attributes of Metropolitan areas as being accessible with national and international connectivity, strong business core, innovation, education, retail, health, and cultural role. The RSES supports the National Policy Objectives of the NPF in relation to sustainable residential densities, recognising the need to increase residential density in settlements, through a range of measures including, area or site-based regeneration and increased building heights in appropriate locations.