developments in cork

News that will bring a smile to any true Cork Person:
The new terminal being built at Cork International Airport will be serviced by Lennox’s Fish and Chip Shop!!
Yes, according to this evening’s Echo, Lennox’s will be one of the restaurants taking up residence in the terminal’s Food Hall, along with Mahers Coffee, Arbutus Bread and Belvelly Smoked Salmon.
Also included will be Lir Cafe, Subway, a Hughes and Hughes Bookshop, a Londis Outlet and a new bar: The Red Bar.
Kylemore and other concession holders in the old terminal will loose out.

Thanks for the info lexington. I like how it will look when completed but I must say I’d prefer it without the extension. The tower would look way better standing alone.

@A-ha wrote:

Was I right in presuming that R&H Hall is Ireland’s third tallest building…. I can’t find any sort of Top Ten list anywhere on the internet.

Nope even to start with you have Georges quay plaza in Dublin which is the same height as Liberty hall at 56m and then theres Riverpoint in Limerick which is being completed and Millenium tower in Dublin too.

RATHCORMAC AT LOGGERHEADS WITH LOCAL COUNCILLORS

– Councillors warned ‘don’t come back for votes’ –

The message is clear! Rathcormac community will keep on fighting against the proposal by local county councillors to zone a further 23 acres of land just outside the village boundary.

This message was issued following a meeting last Tuesday night between local county councillors and concerned members of Rathcormac community.

Despite the pleas of many concerned locals who are opposed to the proposed zonings, Cllrs Aileen Pyne and Kevin O’Keeffe reiterated their intentions to vote for the three proposed zonings at the local area plans meeting in September.

The local area plans meeting on September 12 will decide the zoning and development of the village for the next five years. But the local community feels that there has been enough development in the village already and it needs time to settle down and adjust to this enormous change.

The proposed zonings for every community in Cork County will be voted on by all 48 county councillors come September. But Rathcormac Community Council feel that if the local councillors will not support them, they have no chance.

“If you’re not willing to support our wishes by voting against these zonings, then we have no chance,” said PRO Frank Buckley.

Treasurer Batt O’Connell also questioned the councillors’ logic.

“There will be big social problems in Rathcormac, with a big population and no sports or community facilities. You must know that this decision will be the wrong one, yet you are still going to go ahead. Why make a big problem worse?”

The local community is upset at the way in which Rathcormac is being overdeveloped, with no provision being made for proper infrastructure and amenities, such as sewage, water and community facilities such as sheltered housing, playgrounds, car parks and sporting facilities.

The three zoned areas in question form a total of 23 acres just outside the village boundary, this in a village where 520 new houses have been built since 2002. Rathcormac has tripled in size in three years, and the current school was built in 1948 to cater for 30 to 40 pupils. Today it is struggling to cater for up to 150, with some children being taught in portakabins due to lack of space.

The community council met with the councillors earlier in the year, expressing their fears. They did not wish for any further land in Rathcormac to be zoned for development until a new school was built and proper provision made for adequate infrastructure to be put in place, to cope with the demands that a growing population will put on the village.

Yet despite their requests, local councillors went ahead and zoned further land. Councillors also went against the recommendations of county planners and the county manager, who were also worried at the over-development in Rathcormac.

Eamonn Power said that the community felt ‘stabbed in the back’.

“You went off and did the exact opposite. I’m asking you to focus on the problem, don’t divert from the reality”.

He also went on to question the logic of the councillors’ stance.

“With the pressure that the village is under, the last thing we need is more houses. There’s no logical commonsense reason for the three extra zonings. You have done sweet F.A. for the community. If there is nothing in it for us, and nothing in it for you, then why are ye voting for it?”

Another person from the floor said that the councillors appeared to have ‘tunnel vision’ and did not appear willing to listen to the wishes of the local community.

“As councillors, you represent all the people of Rathcormac and not just three landowners,” he added.

PRO Frank Buckley said that Rathcormac is an example to many other local communities of a ‘disaster area’.

“Rathcormac is their argument against overdevelopment. We’ve had 520 houses with planning granted already, and with more to come within the village boundary”.

He went on to say that the councillors were committing ‘political suicide’ by continuing ‘bull headed’ with the intention of the voting for the extra 23 acres to be zoned.

“Ye need not bother to come back here looking for votes at the next election,” he warned.

Cllr Kevin O’Keeffe said that because of problems with once off housing, people needed to live somewhere.

“A lot of communities, not just Rathcormac, have had a lot of land zoned for housing in the last few years. A lot of people are willing to live in a village such as Rathcormac, which is becoming a very vibrant place.

“With regard to amenities, the council have a definite strategy in place. All the councillors are under enormous pressure with regard to the local area plans. But once the development contributions are in place, the amenities will follow.”

Cllr Pyne reiterated this view, adding that Cork County Council handles nine to ten thousand planning applications a year.

“The planning department are understaffed, so the situation is very difficult for both planners and councillors”.

Cllr Aileen Pyne went on to say that they had tried to have a balanced look at the whole situation.

“We met previously with the community council and the school board of management in the Spring. We are trying to rectify all the infrastructure problems in Rathcormac, but finance is a problem. The County Council budget is very constrained and we are not in a position to allocate further funding to the village at present.

“It’s a chicken and egg situation. Because of the general development contributions scheme, North Cork will be receiving €3.7 million in development charges. The allocation of €40,000 for the new playground, for example, came from this”.

But Frank Buckley said that there appeared to be ‘more chickens than eggs’.

“We’ve had problems for the last four years in relation to rational and reasonable planning. Councillors are saying that amenities will be provided in the future, but we are talking about now. Rathcormac has already contributed enough.

“For amenities we need space in the village centre. But if you allow all the land to be built up, there will be nothing left. Who wants to have a community centre in Mondaniel?”

Eamonn Power said that the local community had been giving for years, but there was nothing coming back.

“The playground and school should not come out of Cork County Council funds, but should be provided by the developers. Developers are building at the expense of taxpayers like the people of Rathcormac. One developer gave a small contribution of €5,000. Another developer made millions out of Rathcormac but only gave €100 to the community, which is an insult”.

Cllr Pyne agreed with Eamonn Power, but she explained that this was the current reality.

“The reality is that amenities come from the Cork County Council development fund, and not from the developers. We should work on our Oireachtas members to change the legislation with regard to this. But from now we have to be practical and work within the system.”

“It’s a difficult situation to balance to tell the truth,” Cllr Liam O’Doherty said.

“I have a lot of people out in the countryside, who are having enormous difficulty with once off housing, so I’m undecided which way I’m going to vote”.

The intentions of Cllr Frank O’Flynn on the Rathcormac zoning issue are unknown, as he is currently away on holidays. Cork County Councillors are due to vote on the local area plans on Monday September 12.

Community council chairman, Peter Quirke vowed that the community would keep on fighting against the three controversial zonings till then.

“We have a contact list for all the other 44 county councillors. We intend to contact every one and make our voices heard.

“There’s a meeting planned for Watergrasshill on September 1. We hope to have the 12 councillors from Midleton, Mallow and Blarney there. Maybe they will listen to us”, he concluded.

http://www.avondhupress.ie/5story1.html

Thanks ewan, that means that R&H Hall is still one of Ireland’s tallest, shame it’s so fu*king ugly though. And what about the airport… update….ryanair… take control….. old terminal… If the airline does not use the existing terminal…. what use will it be put too, office or will it continue to be used as a terminal. I think they should shove all the charter airlines in there during the summer. Don’t want them running the new terminal with their long delays and such!

I have a feeling that Ryanair’s interest in Cork Airport is to put the wind up the DAA about the new terminal in Dublin.

As mentioned by Angry Rebel they’d need a deal similar to the one at Shannon. Even then it is doubtful. From a business perspective, could Ryanair justify 2 bases in Munster? I doubt it, so the deal would have to be so good that they would close the Shannon base. Remember that Shannon can afford to cross-subsidise because of the fees it gets from the stopover. In those circumstances could Cork even consider offering such a deal.

As far as i’m aware, the Elisabeth Fort is spotlighted at night.

Passed Jury’s (the former) on Western Road today. The first signs of the new buildings are appearing with re-inforced concrete pillars in place at the western end of the site. Also I noticed that there are a number of large trees which have been felled at the same end of the site, on the river bank, close to where the railway bridge used to be. I thought there were conditions in planning that trees adjacent to the river were to be protected 🙁