Plans for thousands of new Cork homes under threat due to lack of water facilities
With Plan To An The The Projected 29,000 Years Need Within Has For Built Be County Increase To Homes Keep Population A Pace (cdp) 61,000 Development Seven Additional Next The Projected
Ambitious plans for massive housing development in Co Cork could be scuppered if Irish Water doesn't put in the necessary infrastructure to aid their construction, it's been warned.
The County Development Plan (CDP) has projected the need for an additional 29,000 homes to be built within the next seven years to keep pace with a projected 61,000 population increase.
However, many of these plans are dependent on Irish Water providing new and improved water and sewerage infrastructure.
Discussions are ongoing between senior Irish Water and Cork County Council officials amid “significant concerns” that major water projects needed for expansion of some towns won't be delivered for several years, potentially hampering CDP targets.
County engineer Kevin Morey said as part of the ongoing CDP review, the local authority has assessed water services capacity constraints for the key towns and villages. “The results of this assessment have been shared with Irish Water. The council’s Planning and Water Services teams continue to engage with Irish Water’s Asset Strategy and Asset Delivery teams to ensure that Irish Water’s priorities align with Cork County Council’s objectives for sustainable growth,” Mr Morey said.
“While there remain significant concerns in some larger towns, where upgrade projects may take a number of years to deliver, interim measures are being developed to provide headroom in the short term,” he added.
Fine Gael councillor Kevin Murphy said people won't be able to build in villages due to lack of enhanced services.
“The CPD will be a failure if Irish Water doesn't provide the services needed to expand towns and villages."
He added a lot of land had to be dezoned for housing on the periphery of villages as Irish Water hasn't the funding to serve these areas.
The smaller villages and settlements are going to be seriously deprived of development if water and sewage services aren't available,” Mr Murphy said. “So this threatens their very survival as they need some development to be sustainable.”
Fianna Fáil councillor Ian Doyle said the council has to get definitive project dates from Irish Water otherwise the CPD will be in jeopardy.
Councillor Deirdre Kelly, also Fianna Fáil, said 168 new homes were supposed to be built in Dunmanway and she wanted timelines on Irish Water upgrades to allow their development.
“There's a frightening lack of capacity in towns and villages to allow for further expansion,” Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy added.
“The CDP will be a failure if Irish Water doesn't put services into towns and villages,” Independent councillor Danny Collins said.