Micheal Lynch Senior Planner County Council Carrigrohane Road Cork

30 May 2017

Re: Submission on Proposed Amendments to Draft Municipal District Local Area Plans -Ballingcollig Carrigaline -East Cork -Blarney -Cobh

Dear Michael,

On behalf of Cork Chamber membership, I would like to take this opportunity to commend Cork County Council on the work and public engagement to date on the development of the Draft Municipal Local Area Plans. Cork Chamber shares the commitment of Cork County Council in driving towards the strategic and sustainable growth of the region and as such welcomes this and all future opportunities to actively engage towards reinforcing the future of Cork as a high quality location to live and do business. We believe in Cork city region as the fulcrum point for a thriving southern region and believe that these LAPs are important building blocks for this vision.

Cork Chamber submitted to four of the Draft Municipal District Local Area Plans for the districts of Carrigaline, East Cork, Blarney Macroom and Cobh. Upon review of the proposed amendments to each of these plans, Cork Chamber acknowledges the revisions that have been incorporated. In particular Cork Chamber note a number of initiatives which it is believed will greatly enhance the development of the Cork region to meet the needs of the existing and expected population growth into the future.

Cork Chamber welcomes the defined process of Active Land Management as instrumental in achieving the type of development that is sought for across the region and note the associated potential of this process in delivering zoned lands to active use. Furthermore, Cork Chamber acknowledges the associated benefits as regards the ongoing review and evaluation process of housing market demands and the inbuilt agility which such a process could achieve in prompting the delivery of housing types which are in line with market demands. What’s more, the associated benefit as regards the forward planning for essential and supporting infrastructure will greatly enhance the efficiency and speed to market of such developments as well as the proactive approach towards facilitating sustainable modes of transport which such a process can bring. Within the original submissions to this process, Cork Chamber placed emphasis on the value of private stakeholder involvement within the specialist Housing and Infrastructure Delivery Team which will be active as part of the Active Land Management process. Cork Chamber in commending this process does however restate the real value and benefit of private stakeholder engagement and external agencies inclusion in this team to the benefit of the overall objective.

Cork Chamber commends the focus on mixed use development, public space and amenities which will support sustainable communities into the future. Furthermore, the emphasis on phased development, the provision of infrastructure to support sustainable transport modes towards the easement of future potential congestion, and mixed mode access and commuting is a welcome focus.

Cork Chamber, in particular, highlights the urgency in addressing locations such as Little Island. As Cork’s largest employment area, it is critical that the issues pertaining to congestion and access within this location and other strategic employment locations such as Ringaskiddy are addressed in the short, medium and long term through the adoption of supporting measures that are multi- pronged with their success monitored and reviewed into the future, and with the concurrent development of appropriate enabling and facilitative infrastructure. In this context, appropriate access and connectivity is essential for the established locations and those which have the potential to be developed into the future, i.e. appropriate road infrastructure to the Aghada/ Whitegate area to support the development of future growth in the Energy sector in Cork.

Overall, Cork Chamber takes this opportunity to reemphasise the necessity for adequate and appropriate lands to be zoned for residential and industrial development into the future and note the revisions within the Proposed Amendments to the LAP’s with regard to zoning for residential development aimed at meeting future demand and facilitating future headroom. Availability of housing is an issue that is of increasing concern for our members. We believe that the LAPs should complement the LIHAF funding to bring much needed housing to market as soon as possible. In line with this however, Cork Chamber highlights the criticality of ensuring that lands zoned are appropriate to meeting the zoning purpose and future function across all adopted Local Area Plans, and in particular within locations where there is a mix of residential and industrial activity. For example, we believe that Little Island should continue to be focused as a much needed area for industrial employment and development.

Cork Chamber welcomes the emphasis on urban regeneration and retail via the Town Centre Improvement Scheme to the enrichment of our town centres into the future and the support of vibrant sustainable and attractive community locations.

In relation to the Development Contribution Scheme, Cork Chamber highlights the importance of ensuring that this scheme does not place an onerous budget requirement on planned developments and welcomes the inclusion of an appropriate off-set mechanism where additional amenities or infrastructure provided by the developer will be considered against the contributions payable.

Cork Chamber welcomes the emphasis on flooding and the management of downstream flood impacts. However, on this point, Cork Chamber also reiterates the point made in the initial submissions that flood zone mapping should now take account of the presence of functioning flood protection structures and be kept updated as protection structures come into operation.

Cork Chamber welcomes the decision to retain the original 12 SLR sites and acknowledge the identification of the 6 SLR’s (Castletreasure, Frankfield/ Grange, Togher/ Doughcloyne, Ardrostig, Ballincollig East- Carrigrohane and Oldcourt) which are likely to have the greatest potential as regards delivering capacity. Cork Chamber takes this opportunity to highlight the urgency in progressing these sites through the assessment phase towards delivery. Cork Chamber welcome the emphasis on phased delivery of housing with the key infrastructure, facilitates and amenity requirements being delivered strategically to serve future developments.

The integration of development with sustainable transport modes is fundamental to the future development and future appeal of our region. Cork Chamber welcomes the development of a Transport Strategy for Cork Metropolitan Area and its objective to provide a long-term strategic planning framework for transport infrastructure across Metropolitan Cork. Cork Chamber highlights the recently completed Cork 2050, joint Cork County Council and Cork City Council proposal to the National Planning Framework process, and highlights the high level strategic approach adopted within this as a valuable guiding template towards future strategic and integrated transport, residential, retail and industrial developments.

Furthermore, and as stated in our original submissions to this process, Cork Chamber emphasises the intrinsic value in aligning all future Cork County Municipal District Local Area Plans with an economic development strategy, inclusive of employment targets, and reiterate the foundational value this could add in quantifying the appropriateness of land zoning requirements and connected infrastructure works.

In summary, Cork Chamber acknowledges the background work in moving towards the agreement of the future Cork County Municipal District Local Area Plans and commends the engagement of Cork County Council with all members of the community in this process.

Yours Sincerely,

Conor Healy CEO