Objectives 5.1 and 5.2 in the climate change chapter commit the council to pursueing a low carbon, environmentally sustainable city and a 51% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 in line with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act. However, examining the transport chapter the budgets alone indicate that roads and the carbon-intensive travel they induce are the council’s main priority. It’s budgeted that €545 million be spent on the bus network and €230 million on cycling infrastructure compared to €1.39 billion for road infrastructure, which is roughly half. It’s only when suburban and light rail are added into the picture that the spend on sustainable transport becomes greater than the expenditure on roads. If the council is serious about pursueing objectives 5.1 and 5.2, the funding for transport needs to be re-examined, even if it involves conflict with national government. Lucy Marstrand-Taussig, a transport planner in the UK, has commented that ‘we know new roads induce congestion and warn the planet’ (BBC News 18 August 2021, available: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56748346).  What’s true in the UK is true for Ireland as well. More roads lead to more people on them, which leads to more driving and more emissions.

CSO figures from 2016 demonstrate that Cork needs investment in active travel infrastructure that makes active travel the attractive option for short trips. The figures from 2016 census show that the average commuting time in Cork city is 22 minutes and the average straight-line distance is 8.53km. With an electric bicycle (and even without one) 8.53km is an eminently cycle-able distance. But people need infrastructure in order to feel safe. Figures from the same census reveal that nationally the percentage of female drivers is increasing and that there is a startling gender gap in cycling. The figures are dated, but in 2016 there were roughly 40,000 men commuting by bicycle compared to 15,000 women. Delivery of safer infrastructure will make it attractive for women to cycle. The census data also reveals that there is an increase in cycling to work, particularly in the 25-34 and 35-44 age brackets, in other words people in their prime working years that a growing economy’s like Cork’s would want to attract.

More specifically to the transport chapter, table 4.1 reproduces the sustainable transport modal shares from CMATS. CMATS addresses the Cork metropolitan region, which is much larger than the city. In more rural areas, the percentage of private car journeys would naturally be lower. In the city, they should be higher. Please introduce modal share targets that are specific for Cork city. Please be ambitious in these targets. 30% or even 35% should be achievable over the lifespan of this development plan.

Objective 4.95 describes mobility hubs and the great assistance they could provide for modal shift, a position I wholeheartedly support. The future location of mobility hubs are shown in the plans for Tivoli and the city docks, but it would be useful to know where the council is considering them in other areas of the city. Please add them to the mapped objectives.

Objective 4.123 regarding the Northern Distributor Road explains that a number of route options are emerging and will be discussed in the next stages of preparation of the development plan. Does this mean in the material amendments stage or in the next development plan? Will there be a free-standing public consultation on the Northern Distributor Road?