City rejects County Council boundary plan
THE dispute between Cork’s two local authorities over proposals to extend the city boundary has taken another twist with both sides seemingly further then ever from reaching agreement on the issue.
This after city councillors unanimously rejected a compromise proposal by Cork County Council that it cede portions of land currently under its control to the urban authority.
Under the surprise offer made by the county council earlier this month, the city would expand to include areas including Frankfield, Grand and Rochestown to the south and Kilcully and Ballyvolane to the north.
However, that would fall far short of the recommendations included within the McKinnon Report published earlier this year, which recommended the city boundary should be extended to include Cork Airport, Ballincollig, Blarney, Glanmire, Little Island and Carrigtwohill. The report further recommended that the city council pay €40 million per annum to the county for a period of ten-years to compensate for the loss of local property tax and commercial rates.
At a meeting last Monday night city councillors endorsed a report by Cork City CEO Ann Doherty that recommended the County Council offer be rejected. Cllrs also gave Ms Doherty their backing to continue engaging with the oversight group, appointed by Local Government Minister Eoghan Murphy, to implement the large city boundary expansion recommended by an expert group.
Responding to the development County Mayor Cllr Declan Hurley said the authority was disappointed by what he described as “the obvious lack of adequate assessment and consideration” given by City Hall to their offer.
He said Cork County Council had submitted “a very generous proposal” that would see the geographic area of Cork City increase by 85%, and its current population grow by 39,000 with the capacity for it to rise to more than 283,000 in time.
Cllr Hurley said the County Council has invested “considerable time and effort” in identifying a practical way forward “but regrettably its outreach initiative has not been responded to in kind.”
“While we await a formal response to our proposals, we are disappointed with the obvious lack of adequate assessment and consideration of the proposal presented by Cork Country Council,” said Cllr Hurley.
“The elected members of Cork County Council are unanimous in their support for this offering and we believe that it represents a great opportunity to achieve a successful outcome for this issue and for a Cork as a whole,” he added.