Reply To: Look at de state of Cork, like!

Luckly the snail pace of developement which persists in the city centre is not occuring in other areas of the county. For example O’ Flynn’s town centre development in Ballincollig is progressing at a swift pace, or at least it appears to be. The first tower crane went up today on the site. Already the steel framed construction of the shopping centre is visible from main street. Also, after visiting the information office located on site and viewing the plan, I got an impression that what is being created in Ballincollig will serve to better Ballincollig by creating a modern town centre in an area which before I would regard as nothing more than a glorified patch of linear sprawl development. I hope it will be a success and if it is, perhaps it will serve as an good step forward for the development of the cork metropolitan area as a whole. We must face the fact that despite attempts by planners, which in an Irish and generally European context have been stringent, our cities are becoming decentred settlements with many centres. Then I ask why we are not paying more attention to the development of these centres as viable sustainable areas, which can compliment the city centre. Death to the semi and all things suburbia!