Green light for €18m regeneration scheme for Spring Lane halting site
Halting Plan Spring The Regeneration Artist The Lane Site For And Cork Proposed €18m In Impression Traveller Of Housing
Planning has been granted for an €18m housing and regeneration plan for an overcrowded Traveller halting site in Cork City where living conditions have been described as among the worst in Ireland.
City councillors voted 25-3 on Monday night to approve a Part 8 planning report for the proposed new 27-unit residential development at Spring Lane in Ballyvolane after several told the meeting that doing nothing is no longer an option.
Green Party councillor Oliver Moran, chairman of the council’s Traveller consultative committee, described progress to this stage as “slow and difficult work” but said councillors are trying to undo a problem that had been allowed to develop over decades.
“This is an opportunity to put that right. No plan is perfect. But the ‘do nothing’ option in this case is simply not an option,” he said.
Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan, a GP in nearby Blackpool, said he has visited the site regularly with trainee GPs over the years, who have always been shocked by the living conditions there.
“The easy thing is to do nothing,” he said. “With an election coming, you can say you’re against it, but we have an obligation to do something, for all our citizens, especially the children of this area.”
The halting site was the subject of a damning report from the Children's Ombudsman in 2021 but it had been the subject of scathing reports and criticism before, with several attempts to find solutions, all without success.
In a report to councillors on Monday night, assistant chief executive Brian Geaney said following the publication of the regeneration plan for public consultation in March, 24 submissions were received, 18 of which were in favour of the scheme.
However, Fine Gael councillor Joe Kavanagh opposed the scheme and called for a vote. He was supported by Independent councillor Ken O’Flynn, who described the plan as “flawed”, and by Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill.
The vote to approve the scheme prompted applause from members of the Traveller Visibility Group and the Cork Travellers Women’s Network who watched from the public gallery.
The plan provides for the construction of 27 Traveller-specific residential units in two distinct areas on the site — a 12-unit Traveller accommodation scheme on the Spring Lane site and a 15-unit group housing scheme on the adjoining council-owned Ellis’s Yard site — as well as upgrades to the internal roads and footpaths.
Horses will not be accommodated on the site, with an approved housing body set to be appointed to manage issues such as tenant liaison, day-to-day maintenance issues, estate management, and overall site management.