Joint retail strategy talks to resume between Cork city and county councils
A previous joint plan collapsed when businesses in the city, backed by their council, objected to proposals for a Kildare Village-style shopping outlet, which was earmarked for Carrigtwohill.
The €100m plan, which was lodged by British-based Rioja Estates in 2020, was severely criticised by the Cork Business Association (CBA) on behalf of city-based business.
That opposition led to a lot of ill-feeling at the time in County Hall, especially as the city council had a few years earlier reneged on a joint waste management plan.
However, county councillors have now decided it's time to re-establish a joint retail strategy.
The Fine Gael leader on the county council, Michael Hegarty, made the suggestion, and was backed by his Carrigtwohill-based party colleague Anthony Barry.
Mr Hegarty said 'it is imperative' that a new joint retail strategy be worked on by the two local authorities. The need for such a move was also previously highlighted by the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR).
Mr Barry said the city had pulled out of the last strategy with an 'apoplectic reaction' to the Carrigtwohill project.
Support for proposal
The mayor of Co Cork, Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley, said she fully supported the proposal to restart talks with City Hall.
County council chief executive Moira Murrell said she would engage on the matter with her counterparts in the city council.
Ms Murrell said that, as the county council is about to review its County Development Plan (CDP), she thought the timing of such talks would be appropriate.
'We will be engaging with the city council because, given the impact on the two authorities, it is sensible that a joint retail strategy would be developed between us,' Ms Murrell said.
However, a spanner in the works could be the city council's recent suggestion that it may not be able to sustain compensation payments to the county council for territory and, more importantly, rates income — the latter of which was lost when the city boundary was significantly extended in 2019.
Earlier this month, city council chief executive Valerie O'Sullivan said major regeneration projects it has planned could be put in jeopardy as it wouldn't have the money to fund them if it has to continue paying the compensation.
She said the annual payments, which have to be made until 2029, were unsustainable due to inflationary pressure.
The city council made its first payment in 2020 of €13m but this rose to nearly €15.5m last year. The county council relies on the money to help pay for its services.
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