Public asked to give views on Council's area plans

By BRIAN MOORE

CORK County Council is asking the public to make their opinions known on how they want to see their community and area develop in the future.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey, made the call at the publication of the latest Draft Local Area Plans (LAPs) and invited all the various stakeholders to get involved in the plan-making process by making submissions outlining their views.

‘The Draft Local Areas Plans set out a proposed blueprint for how the towns and villages of the county will develop over the coming years in terms of where new houses, businesses, shops, schools,  parks or roads etc, will be provided,’ Mr Lucey said. 

‘Cork County is divided into eight municipal districts and a new Local Area Plan will be prepared for each district, giving eight plans in total.’

 The districts are Ballincollig-Carrigaline, Bandon-Kinsale, Blarney-Macroom, Cobh, East Cork, Fermoy, Kanturk-Mallow and West Cork.

A series of public consultation meetings are planned so that communities can inspect the proposed LAPs and to see how the proposals might impact their lives.

County Mayor Cllr Seamus McGrath said he wanted to encourage businesses, residents and community groups to make formal submissions to the Council to share their views with the elected members and the planning staff of the Council, who will be working on the finalisation of the draft plans over the coming months.

‘I would also take this opportunity to encourage people to attend the public information events being organised by the Planning Policy Unit and which will take place in each district,’ he said.

The draft LAPs are available to view on the Council website or may be inspected (between 9.30am and 4pm) at Floor 1, County Hall or at the local Council offices in Norton House in Skibbereen. 

Further information on the preparation of the draft local area plans is available at www.corkcoco.ie. 

These documents are also available at public libraries across the county. 

The public submission period for the draft local development plans closes at 4pm on January 6th 2017.