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CORK CITY COULD grow by 79,000 with an examinations of the county’s city and county borders set to take place.
This comes after an announcement by Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly that a statutory committee has been appointed to review the county’s city boundary and other local government arrangements.
The move aims to expand Cork city’s metropolitan area. The reason given for this was that a large amount of what would be considered Cork city is currently within Cork County Council’s jurisdiction.
It is estimated that this could see 79,000 residents rezoned into the Cork City Council jurisdiction.
The examination by an independent group will also look into the possibility of merging local authority structures.
Benefits to Cork
In a statement today, Minister Kelly said that reexamining borders would allow for more coherent development in the county.
“It’s important that both the city and county are not held back in terms of economic progress and resolving the boundary issue permanently is part of that. This is about selecting the most appropriate system of local government for Cork city and county and ensuring proper democratic representation,” said Kelly.
This came after discussions with mayors and chief executives from Cork city and county.
It has been stated that changes to boundaries could tackling issues relating to commercial rates, planning and unnecessary duplication of administration.
The move is part of a wider reform programme of local government – with action also being taken in Tipperary, Limerick and Waterford.
Committee
The body set up to reexamine the borders shall be in place for the next 9 months and will contain no elected representatives. The committee will be made up of five members.
Members of the body shall be working on a pro-bono basis.
On the proposed action of the committee, Minister Kelly went on to say:
I have full confidence that this committee will propose the structure that it believes will serve the best interests o the people of Cork city and county.
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They should expand the county border too, you can never have enough Cork.
The people of West Cork do like to separate themselves from the rest of Cork especially the city. They believe they’re superior. Funny for such a small population in a large county.
Might give them a chance of winning an All-Ireland in the near future if that happens.
Some parts of west cork are 150km+ from the city. Of course they are going to feel like they’re different . They have more in common with the people in South Kerry
@Mike… Are you off your game or what? Nonsense.
No Louis just stating what many people from West Cork have said to me. I really couldn’t care less. Cork is Cork to me.
Tweety as a Cork man myself I question your ability to measure. You’ll have to get the odometer fixed in that car buddy. :)
Google maps: Allihies to Cork city 141km
So I was 9km out
Sorry for my ill-informed post, Mark :-(
Mark Malone, just checked AA route planner, Allihies is 147.7km from Cork city.
My favourite areas of cork is Bantry and Glengarriff. Cork city to Glengarriff is 89km
It wasn’t the people of Allihies that said they would prefer to distance themselves from the rest of Cork. You would always be told you’re in West Cork.
It’s true that west Cork is a very distinctive part of the county but at the end of the day they drink the same Murphys and support the same Rebels in the GAA as the rest of the county. They bleed red blood the same as any other Corkonian
Ballaghboy – Cork City 155km (Google Maps)
Who does Cork think it is… Russia? They’ll be trying to annex Kerry next ☺
Sure what’s the difference between west cork and kerry..but a pair of shoes…
Oh for the lords sake don’t say that ….. We don’t like being like anyone only our own .
Give the people what they want….
Merge all of Munster and make it all Cork. You know you want to!!!!!!
Some how or another this is nothing to do with the benefit of people,
Reading between the lines here it looks like the city council has been critised so much for the extortionate commercial rates it charges that is turning the city centre into a ghost town. Part of the solution, I suspect, is this proposal to round up 79,000 property tax payers to pay into the city coffers.
My sympathy goes to the poor victims that will be enslaved to the city council whose obsession with bicycles, traffic lights and crap street furnature and no street parking (except for the Lord Mayor’s car and city council vehicles of course) is slowly turning the city centre into the most unpleasent cities to try and visit or shop in if you own a car.
Never been to Cork city. must head down sometime.
That’s like saying you never eaten chocolate. You’re missing out big time
It’s very small, large town to me but worth a day trip.
The same is true of a lot of cities. There are about half a million people living in places that are in practice part of Dublin city, but on paper are not. Same with most cities in the UK too. That’s why there is often a huge difference between the official population of a city and the population of the urban area.
Perhaps the best example of this that I’ve come across is Melbourne, where I live now. There are only 93,000 people living within the official city boundaries, but the population of the urban area is 4.4 million!
It takes a unique intellect to use opposing adjectives to aid description. By unique I mean thick as a bag of sawdust.
My reply was to Ben talking about Cork city. It is a very small city.
It is a small city Mike, but then again we don’t really have a proper large one in this country
Nothing wrong with small Tom, big doesn’t always mean better :)
All about dynamic Mike, glad we are on the same page
@Mike: Small compared to Dublin but thats its charm , its the biggest county and doesn’t consume other counties like Dublin does and also is kept small by by lack of funding by government where it all goes to Dublin .)
Don’t know why Cork still somehow has a city council AND a county council. They should have done like Limerick and Waterford, and merged the two. No more discussion about city limits; no more duplication of council scratchers. Job done.
Cork city has a population of 120,000 and cork county has a population of 400,000. Cork Co Council is the second biggest local authority in the country.
The distance form one end of the county to the other is about 200km. Having two local authorities is completely justifiable.
Yap ^^
Population (2011)
• City 119,230
• Density 3,194.18/km2 (8,272.9/sq mi)
• Urban 198,582
• Metro 399,216
• County 518,128
Will they be proper feins now or just imposters like?
The population of cork city has never ever grown in the last 30 yrs and has actually fallen in last decade. Successive councils have done jack to build and encourage a vibrant city.
It’s tumble weed there at the best of times.
Fiddling with the boundaries is a pathetic cop out.
Hoping the event centre and the rejuvenation of the gaa grounds will be the start of something new and badly needed for the life of the city
Eugene, don’t get your hopes up regarding the event center. Have you seen the crazy plans some on the council are proposing!
They have listed the facade old the old brewery building. First mistake. It is in fact not an original facade from the period but a nasty copy that is not that old and has no architectural merit. Lost is the opportunity to put a real land mark building, like the Gherkin in London.
Next they are proposing to have a park and ride to the west of the city for up to 5,000 people that might want to attend an event! Just imagine all the people, especially the women in their finery and long dresses getting on a double decker bus and travelling into the city and out again after a show in the pissing wet and wind that we tend to get most of the time!
Mrantime, across the road from it there is a hotel site that has been derelict for 20 years or more, together with the city centre car park that if combined could facilitate a multistory car park with an under road pedestrian tunnel direct into the arena without getting wet. However, problem with that now is that the access to that area has been so restricted with fcuking cycle paths and the crap that goes with it that trying to get 3 or 4 thousand cars in and out of there in a reasonable time scale for a show would be neigh impossible.
@Jack The architectural merit of the facade on the Beamish brewery is irrelevant, it is still iconic in Cork and should be saved on that basis alone. We will have enough glass and steel buildings in the city in 10 years time as it is, it is important to keep iconic buildings like the Beamish one intact for as long as possible so as to preserve some of the culturally aspect of the city. Also it is only a very small piece of the overall new structure that they have planned.
Secondly giving out about the increased number of new bicycle lanes is ridiculous. Cork is a small city, the amount of parking available is always going to be limited. The new lanes coupled with the new coke zero bikes is a great initiative and has been a raving success in Dublin. The goal is to get traffic out of the city centre. You will always have people driving in for work or shopping but if you can get a certain number to avail of services like park and ride and cycling then it will ease congestion. It is the only solution. With the new events center, offices and retail units planned for the capitol cinema, the new office block on Alberta quay etc… There will never be enough parking in the city centre unless you build countless multi-story car parks. I dont know about you but I certainly don’t want to live in a city full of grey concrete car park blocks. Put down your car keys Jack and hop on a bike or take a walk the odd time. You’ll feel better and see much more of what is not a bad little city.
I hear ya jack. I don’t have much confidence in how they will handle traffic for any given events.
There is no vision from this council of ours. Strategic planning was never a strong point of theirs.
Lack of funding would be their excuse but you could hand it to them on a plate and they’d still make a mess of it.
Alas Jason I fear Douglas will be the last area to be deemed part of the city. They have done very well for themselves being treated as a small town and all that initials them. Plus nearly all councillors live there
If it takes in Glanmire will it mean the bus charges change to city rates? At the moment its €3.90 from Glanmire to the bus station which is a 15 minute journey.
A friend of mine in Ballincollig is not happy about this idea.
Cork is an absolute kip
Your own green thumbs don’t count Ronan ya langer.
That’s a broad but, I’m sure, informed statement. Making a statement like that, I’m sure you must have seen a lot of the county.
Funny how west cork is one of the most popular tourist destinations, they’ve obviously never been to your county
Ronan, I was born in the city and live here currently and although it saddens me to say it, I agree with you.
I feel embarrassed when I see visitors in town wondering whether John Betjemen just go mixed up and meant Cork City rather than Slough!
The number of empty shops and buildings along Washington Street, the Garand Parade, Patrick Street is as a result of the city council failing to understand that you creat a perfect storm for the destruction of a city when you operate a crap planning policy for years, levy high commercial rates and prevent street parking so people, especially elderly, dont want to go there any more.
so is shit trafford
@Ronan o Connor….With a can of beer in your paw in your picture ..How classy
Cork is my beautiful city so you take it back !…
… UP CORK …
Unite the two Local Authorities.
We need lebensraum. How about we expand the county bounds, admittedly it would mean incorporating the surrounding Hill Tribes but they can’t stay isolated forever, whatever UNESCO says.
Tomorrow I’ll be outlining how to make friends and influence people, like.
This is the part that worries – ” and will contain no elected representatives.”
This sounds reasonable. I’m fairly sure part of model farm road/bishopstown actually fall under the county council. The borders may not have expanded in a long time.
Leaving Cork aside Which is bigger Galway City or Limerick City ??
Limerick.
Has this got anything to do with the fact that Labour have not got 1 councillor on Cork City Council.
have your say