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Plans to transform Cork City’s port area have come one step closer after the Land Development Agency and the City Council announced that they are partnering to help carry out the ambitious 20-year project.
The agency, which has only been around for two years, is partnering with the local authority to establish a Cork Docklands delivery office that will help facilitate the development program. It is anticipated that there will be a mix of housing and supporting public infrastructure along with a variety of buildings from private developers, on 146 hectares of land that would ultimately house 25,000 people, a workforce and a student population of 3,700.
The new office will have up to 12 employees and a project leader will be announced in the coming days. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that the Docklands development plan, which is the largest regeneration project in the state, “will be a project of international importance,” and Cork City Mayor Joe Kavanagh said that “this it’s a big step forward in unlocking the potential of Cork City’s Docklands.
Cork City Council’s director of strategic economic development, Fearghal Reidy, said the Covid-19 pandemic should not stop the plan’s implementation.
“Yes, in the short term, investors are looking at all the options and the impact, but I think in the long term investors will want to support places that are well planned, resilient and attractive places to live and work,” he said.
“Right now there is development on the docks of Cork City and that is very evident when you look at the horizon.”
However, the scale of the development will grow significantly, with a mix of housing along with recreational spaces such as parks, schools, and medical facilities and greater access to the River Lee as a social service, such as walkways and plazas.
Those behind the plan believe hundreds of millions of euros will be needed for the required enabling infrastructure, and an announcement is expected in the coming weeks about funding from the Urban Development and Regeneration Fund.
Reidy said, “We are hopeful [of the funding] And that is because the government aligned the National Planning Framework with the National Development Plan, and both mention the port area. “
He said a commitment to funding over a decade-long period would help deliver that strategic infrastructure, while development is taking place in the meantime.
He also admitted that mandatory purchase orders may be necessary, but would be used as a “last resort.”
Land Development Agency property chief Phelim O’Neill said that all interested parties will be consulted, in the hope that next year the first new planning permit will be obtained from a private developer. He said he expects this to have a “ripple effect” and cited areas like Aarhus in Denmark as examples to follow.
“Confidence is everything,” he said. “If you have the right circumstances and the people who believe in the area, the location is second to none. All the constituent elements are there.”
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