East Cork infrastructure project ‘critical’ for local housing needs and commuter travel

A new road infrastructure project, officially opened in East Cork yesterday, was described by Tánaiste Micheál Martin as being “critical” to addressing local housing needs and commuter travel within the area.

The €11.7m development, which will support 2,500 homes, is seen as an important element of the Water-Rock Urban Expansion Area near Midleton and will incorporate 1.7km of new link roads, surface water drainage, services, public lighting, and landscaping.

Planning permission has been granted for 1,400 residential units, with work already under way.

In addition to facilitating traffic from the new home development, the new roads will service three schools, a new railway station and a neighbourhood centre.

Cork County Council has also purchased approximately 18 acres of land within the Water-Rock Urban Expansion Area to develop three public parks in tandem with the proposed housing.

The council is also working with the support of government funding to construct the Midleton to Youghal Greenway, and complete the interurban cycleway from Cork to Midleton.

Priority

Speaking to The Echo at the official launch of the development, which has been funded by Government’s Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) and Cork County Council, Mr Martin said: “Housing is the number one priority for us in Government.”

“I think this [development] is a very good vindication of the local infrastructure housing activation fund model, which has been in gestation for quite a while, and in reality, is working very effectively. 

“As part of the development here people are looking at 2,500 homes. The road infrastructure has been put in place in advance, sites identified for schools, the waste water treatment plant is near completion, and Iarnród Éireann are committed to a rail station. “We’re close to 200 houses under construction already,” said Mr Martin.

“In earlier times perhaps these developments would have happened piecemeal, and not in an integrated proper way, so this is the full realisation of that concept.

“The idea was developed here in 2018, and a lot of work had to be done in terms of estimations but fundamentally we would like these projects to happen more quickly, and perhaps future models can follow this template. “It’s very good news,” he said.

Collaboration

Mr Martin said the fact that all the development was the result of collaboration between various agencies working together was integral to the success of the fund model.

“It’s been a runaway success and it’s critical to the housing issue here, to commuter travel and to the integration of Midlands in this region,” he said. Mayor of the county of Cork, councillor Joe Carroll said: 

“This new road will be hugely beneficial for Midleton and east Cork. It opens the available land for much- needed housing, without burdening existing infrastructure [and] also supports compact growth and sustainable development.”

The new chief executive of Cork County Council, Moira Murrell, said Water Rock was one of five urban expansion areas in Co Cork: “These areas, which include Shannonpark in Carrigaline, Carrigtwohill North, Ballynoe in Cobh, and Monard strategic development zone, have been identified as the best locations for the development of new communities in Metropolitan Cork. The future strength of the Co Cork economy depends on projects like this that provide certainty to first-time buyers, to employers and investors in this region.”