Cork County Board seeks planning permission for 309 homes
Sale of the site — along with income to be generated from Ed Sheeran’s two Páirc Uí Chaoimh dates next April — would go some way towards addressing the Cork County Board’s debt. File picture: Larry Cummins.
The debt-laden Cork County Board has put plans for 309 residential units planned for Cork GAA lands before An Bord Pleanála.
The move by the Cork County Board is part of a consultation with the appeals board ahead of formally lodging ‘fasttrack’ Strategic Housing Development (SHD) plans for the scheme next year.
The notice, published by An Bord Pleanála on Wednesday, shows the planned scheme is made up of 197 houses, 112 apartments, a creche, and associated works for Cork GAA lands on Old Whitechurch Rd, Kilbarry.
The planning documentation lodged by the Cork County Board starts a nine-week long pre-planning consultation with An Bord Pleanála.
The consultation will involve Cork City Council planners and at the end of the consultation, An Bord Pleanála will provide an ‘opinion’ as to whether the scheme requires further amendment or provides for an acceptable basis for an SHD application.
It is then open to the Cork County Board to take into account the views expressed by An Bord Pleanála before lodging an application directly to the planning board under Government fast-track planning rules.
If and when the county board secures planning permission for the residential scheme, it would greatly enhance the value of the site for any sale to a developer.
Such a sale — along with income to be generated from Ed Sheeran’s two Páirc Uí Chaoimh dates next April — would go some way towards addressing the Cork County Board’s debt.
The most recent accounts show its overall debt for 2020 was €21.65m, with €11.98m owed to Croke Park.
The board incurred a deficit of over €3m in 2020 as Covid-19 impacted on efforts to generate revenue from Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
A decision on the scheme by An Bord Pleanála is due on January 21.
Meanwhile, An Bord Pleanála has granted permission to Belwall Ltd for a large-scale SHD scheme for Wall Rd, Donaghmede, Dublin 13.
The scheme comprises 413 apartments and in its decision, the board ordered the omission of a small number of apartments.
