ALMOST 50,000 new homes are to be built across Cork county over the next decade after councillors rezoned more residential land.

The move follows a ministerial directive issued last year to accelerate housing delivery across the county.

A variation of the Cork County Development Plan was passed last Friday, allowing for 12,000 more units than previously planned.

West Cork towns to benefit include Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Castletownbere and Skibbereen with 2,316 units planned across the West Cork Strategic Planning Area.

Extra housing is also earmarked for Bandon, Kinsale and Macroom, and the villages of Innishannon, Newcestown, Glandore and Rosscarbery.

Last September the local authority invited submissions from landowners with plots suitable for residential development.

But there was disappointment for both Bantry and Schull after submissions to zone landbanks for housing were rejected by council officials who said that both areas are at risk of flooding.

Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) said that in this variation and the previous county development plan there have been sites in both towns that should have been considered.

‘The owner of this landbank in Bantry is very disappointed that the council has rejected it. The town has to expand and it should be developing out this side of the town by the Ropewalk I believe,’ he said.

‘It was the same issue in Schull but there are houses there for 40 to 50 years and they have never been flooded. It seems to me that the bigger towns are benefitting from the variation plan and towns like Bantry are being forgotten about. This is where rural Ireland is losing out.’

Cllr Caroline Cronin (FG) said they had asked for these two sites to be included as there is huge need for housing in both areas. 

‘We were told they were rejected because both were identified as being at risk of flooding,’ said Cllr Cronin.

In its report related to the submission for lands in Schull, Cork County Council said the proposed site ‘has significant challenges in terms of flooding as confirmed by the SFRA (Strategic Flood Risk Assessment) and that the site is not suitable for residential zoning.

They rejected an application in Bantry as they said the risk of flooding comes from a stream that runs along the western boundary of the proposed lands for housing and said it was ‘inappropriate for development.’

At a special meeting of the local authority last Friday councillors voted in favour of 29 variations to the Cork Development Plan which will provide additional residential land-use zoning and increased headroom in the county’s main town and villages.

Following the public call for land last year the planning team processed the applications received and there was engagement with the elected members and with the national agencies all relevant to the variation such as Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and Uisce Éireann. 

This process concluded on March 9th and the draft variation of the Cork County Development Plan was published on March 10th and 282 submissions were received with 31 of those from West Cork.

The 29 variations will go out for public consultation in the next two weeks and it is expected that any submissions made will be discussed by councillors who will get to vote on the variations in September.