The City Development Plan is a key opportunity to progress a vision for Cork that is inclusive and progressive. We have the opportunity to build a city that is welcoming and modern, a city that rivals any other.
To do this, we need to protect our heritage and move forward with communities at the heart of what we do.
We welcome many of the initiatives in the draft plan and hope to see these acted on.
Housing:
The current Housing Crisis must be top of the list of priorities for Cork City Council.
We believe that the following need to be key priorities in the City Development Plan and included explicitly in the plan.
- Having a full-time vacant homes officer with a fully resourced team to tackle the portion of the 9000 vacant homes in Cork within the city and to focus on areas where vacancy has been found to be higher (see Housing Agency census reports).
- A separate fully resourced Derelict sites team to implement the Derelict Sites Levy fully
- Public housing on public land. Affordable and cost-rental housing prices based on affordability and not market value. Full utilisation of discretion to ensure that cost-rental, in particular, is not simply less than market value but also reflects cost of living and the median wage
- Sustainable communities should be protected and established by ensuring infrastructure is built before or during construction
- Cork City Council to implement rolling house maintenance schedule that will see all houses inspected and necessary works completed in the lifetime of the City Development Plan
- Density of housing projects to be determined based on infrastructure, community spaces, green areas, community centres, schools, creches, GPs, shops, parking etc to ensure that we are building communities
- Employ a full cohort of Housing Inspectors to tackle unruly tenants, anti-social behaviour and landlords not adhering to law by conducting regular visits to houses and acting as a deterrent
- Retrofitting of all city council housing stock within the lifetime of the plan
- Need for Regeneration plans for Blackpool, Shandon and other areas were high dereliction are destroying local communities
Roads:
The safety of roads in Cork has become a serious issue in recent years. In the last ten years, serious or fatal accidents involving pedestrians have increased from 10 in 2010 to 22 in 2019. Similarly, there were no serious or fatal accidents involving cyclists in 2010 while there were 9 in 2019. This is indicative of a rapidly developing problem that must be addressed immediately.
- Completion of all outstanding traffic calming motions within the lifetime of the plan
- Citywide road safety survey to identify dangerous hotspots starting in Glanmire and Blarney and the rest of Cork North East and Cork North West. As a result of failure to construct the Northern Ring road and with no timeline in place for construction, Cork City Council needs to put measures in place to protect communities while supporting economic growth in the area
- The Council will actively petition the government and Department of Transport for funding to complete the Northern Ring road
Sustainable Transport, Parks and Sports
The results of the Sinn Fein Cork North Central Sustainable Transport survey clearly highlighted the need for more accessibility to sustainable transport across the Northside and also showed that people want to use sustainable transport in their local area but don’t feel safe doing so. Cycle lanes that end abruptly are of no use to people attempting to use cycling as a means of daily transport. Cycle lanes should be protected, and some consideration given to creating family friendly cycle lanes
- A pedestrian bridge/crossing on Model Farm road to link the two Sli na Slainte safely
- Cycling infrastructure improvement including forward planning for cycle routes particularly on the Northside.
- An audit/risk assessment of entry ways to all schools starting with primary schools
- Upgrade and restoration of all city footpaths
- Coca Cola Zero Bike scheme expanded to include more bikes and cover a wider area of the city particularly on the Northside
- An emphasis on Northside projects in Sustainable Transport given the lack of cycle routes/lanes on the Northside
- Regional parks in Knocknaheeny and Glanmire
- Drawing on the ‘Community Research Project: CORK CITY PUBLIC GREEN SPACES’, an audit of all Cork parks be done with improvements made where needed and gaps identified and filled
- Upgrades of all sporting facilities where needed with a particular focus on addressing the imbalance in sports facilities for women and girls
- John F Connolly road needs to be made more accessible with removal of bollards and restoration of footpaths
- Future enhancements and investments to John O'Callaghan Park Glanmire. Including an all-inclusive playground catering for different ages and abilities.
- More trees and green areas needed across the Northside and surrounding areas to ensure there is no disparity across the city
- Recognition of the submission by the Cork Cycling Campaign group
Transport, infrastructure, and communities
- Public transport improved in areas introduced to the city due to the boundary change as many are suffering from poor or non-existent public transport access
- Additional Park and Ride facilities across the city staring with one on the Northside. This will not only reduce traffic congestion in the city but encourage people to utilise public transport and make a positive environmental impact
- Number of areas in Cork North Central (including Faranree, the Glen and Ballyvolane) need improved bus service
- Blarney street, Shanakiel, Sunday’s Well, Upper Glanmire, Kilcully, Tower, Dublin Pike amongst other areas need a bus service established
- Coca Cola Zero Bike scheme expanded to include more bikes and cover a wider area of the city
- Cork Metro to cover the entire city with stops spread evenly North, South, East and West
- Particular attention needs to be paid to submissions from community centres from across Cork North Central who have put trojan work into their submissions and deserve to be recognised for this
- Transport links for communities such as Ballinglanna ( a new housing development in Glanmire), Kilcully, Ballinaviskig and Upper Glanmire are in desperate need of full time regular bus schedules to service the above rural areas and would benefit from local rapid bus connections for the area.
- A railway stop for the Tivoli area as the closest is Glounthaune
- Zoning needs to be made available for healthcare needs in Cork North Central including additional GP services in Glanmire and a hospital for the Northside
- Progress the construction of the Tivoli area development plan under the local area plan.
- Investment in a park and ride for Glanmire to link with railway networks and make links with the city. A park and ride near the turn off from the Dublin road would benefit commuters travelling to the city less traffic through Glanmire during peak times and less congestion forming from rat run types through rural areas where roads cannot withstand such traffic on a constant basis.
- Upper Glanmire National School - with a growing community in Upper Glanmire/ Whitescross areas the above-named primary school will need to expand to meet the needs for a sustainable future. More land is needed to expand and grow. More safe parking is needed outside the school as its currently onto a main road. A playground or skate park would also be a welcomed addition.
- Work with the Irish Prison Service to bring the Old Cork Prison back into use with emphasis on benefit to local community
- Area plan developed for Nash’s Boreen to combat anti-social behaviour
- We need to progress a Horse Project and seek land that can be zoned for such a purpose. A Horse Project focusing on the care & maintenance of horses works well in a number of local authorities and would be of benefit to many, particularly members of the Traveller Community. In addition, a smaller project on any available land near St. Anthony's Park, Hollyhill would also be worth considering and would assist in ensuring horses are kept off local roads & green spaces, the community centre in St. Anthony's Park could be utilised for training and education.
Working and learning in Cork
With the recent announcement, in the National Development Plan, to increase jobs in the city by 50-60% in the lifetime of the NDP we have an opportunity, now more than ever, to improve the job opportunities of people right across Cork. Alongside this, we need to ensure that the impact of Covid on areas such as the city centre is not long-lasting.
- Patrick street needs to be rejuvenated starting with upgrades and improvements to Bishop Lucey Park to make it a family-friendly greenspace at the heart of Cork
- The currently proposed Victorian Quarter should go ahead but named as the McCurtain Quarter to pay homage to Tomas McCurtain, former Lord Mayor of Cork
- The Council should engage with businesses through the Chambers and other means to encourage retention and promotion of Cork culture and heritage
- Rolling rates waivers for new business in the first 3 years of establishment to encourage business initiatives in economic blackspots
- Zoning for a third level institution on the Northside and discussion with the Department of Further and Higher Education on the possibility of an initiative to encourage this
- Cork City Council to look at Community Wealth Building as an employment initiative
- Cork City Council to become a Real Living Wage Foundation member for all workers – from casual workers to permanent employees to contracted employees
- The CDP has to address the disparity between the Northside & Southside of the city in terms of economic development and strategies should follow in terms of the imbalance, progress on road infrastructure and public transport to complement any such strategies is vital in this.
Disability
Cork has an obligation under the UNCRPD to ensure accessibility of the built environment for people with disabilities. We should not just be striving to meet these obligations but exceed them.
- There should be a Disability Office/Department in Cork City Council
- Aim for Disability Friendly City status to attract tourists etc
- Disabled parking spaces examined to ensure accessibility
- Dedicated complaints procedure within Cork City Council to report accessibility issues
- Improve engagement with Disability Groups and Activists
- Pedestrian crossings upgraded for people with disabilities
- Cork City Council develop an Autism Empowerment Strategy to advocate for those on ASD spectrum in the city
- Complete ban on tactical paving for non-accessibility purposes and a removal of any that currently exists in this format
- Full publication of the recent Accessibility Audit and implementation of any recommendations
- Accessibility audits to be rolled out in every area over the lifetime of this plan