A “huge meeting” of residents has heard strong opposition to a planned Cork to Kinsale Greenway – with a local Councillor saying that issues around the compulsory purchase of private land to facilitate the new development has caused fears for the impact on homes and farms.
Cllr Albert Deasy, Independent Councillor for Cork City South West, was speaking to Gript after an estimated 300 people packed the Marian Hall in Ballinhassig for a meeting on the greenway last night, where he said “not one hand was raised in favour of the current proposal”.
He said he was a “keen cyclist” and was “very familiar with this area”, adding that “people are perfectly happy to support a greenway, but not this proposal which seems very authoritarian and has caused so much local upset, especially in regard to the proposed compulsory purchase of land and curing farms and family property in two”.
The Independent Councillor said that the plans for the 33km greenway were overly elaborate, running the cyclepath over the iconic Chetwynd Viaduct and Goggins Hill Tunnel, and that “vast sums” would be spent on the project, adding: “there’s talk of cost of €2-300 hundred million, and public projects always escalate in terms of cost”.
He questioned the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs), saying that a greenway not critical infrastructure but more of a “leisure run” – adding that “a cyclepath should not be established by forcing the sale of land”.
“This was presented to local people in an authoritarian way and that has led to huge upset and opposition,” he said. “The overwhelming consensus last night was that the proposed route would not be accepted by local people. People haven’t been listened to: the first people heard of this was 3 or 4 weeks ago when they got a notice saying this was being planned and that their lands might come under Compulsory Purchase Order. That’s completely unacceptable.”
He said an alternative greenway should be under consideration. “At the meeting last night I read out definition of a greenway at the meeting: it’s simply a segregated route – and there is an alternative. The cycle path from Cork to Kinsale could be built along public lands parallel to the existing road infrastructure.”
Cllr Deasy said that people were “terribly upset” at the meeting and that “they must be listened to”, especially where an alternative existed. “Where there’s an alternative available, one that doesn’t involve causing huge public upset – and will come in at a fraction of the cost because there will be no need for CPOs – why can’t that be examined?”
“The distress caused by the mere anticipation of this project underscores the necessity for a thorough re-evaluation. The Emerging Preferred Route Corridor must not proceed if it means displacing families or disrupting longstanding agricultural practices.”
He said that planners were “fixated” on using the viaduct on the greenway, but that local people will not accept the current route option. “Again, it seems very authoritarian,” he said, adding that Minister Christopher O’Sullivan, and Independent Ireland TD Michael Collins, attended the meeting last night.
“Robert Splaine, an international showjumper, spoke at the meeting and said that the showjumping horses on his farm in Belgooly would suffer ill effects if the farm was cut in two by a compulsory purchase order to facilitate the Greenway with attendant noise and disturbance,” Cllr Deasy said – adding that more than a dozen farmers also spoke at the packed meeting.
Previously, locals told the Irish Examiner of opposition to the 3-m wide greenway proposal, with one woman who fears her family’s farm will be effected saying: “I am not opposed to a greenway, but they are going about this the wrong way. It feels like they are trying to bulldoze my village.”
“This is my father-in-law’s land. They are the third generation to put blood, sweat, and tears into this farm. If it splits the farm, it will affect their livelihood,” Megan Sheehan said.
“And we want to build our home here, but there has been no real consultation about the route — it’s just awful.
Ahead of last night’s meeting, local woman Noreen Ring told Cork’s 96 FM that it was “madness” to take people’s land for an amenity when State-owned land was available. She said that CPOs should not be used for greenways, and that the current proposal should be scrapped.
She said that the route of the proposed greenway was cutting right through family farms. A video where one local woman, whose farm has been in the family for four generations, is speaking of her upset at the prospect of the farm being ‘cut in two’ has been widely viewed locally.
Cllr Deasy told Gript today: “We can’t get money to fix the footpaths and roads in the country, yet there are hundreds of millions for a huge vanity project”.
“The mere thought of this project is already causing significant stress, and the prospect of being forced to vacate their homes or split up their farmlands is unconscionably cruel,” he said.
“I am fully behind the homeowners and farmers who are facing the possibility of their homes and farms being subject to Compulsory Purchase Orders,” said Cllr Deasy. “It is imperative that we protect the rights and livelihoods of local people. No one’s home or farm should be impacted in any way without their full consent.”
“While I appreciate the efforts on the Cork to Kinsale Greenway, I must stand firmly with our local residents and farmers who are justifiably alarmed at the prospect of Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs). This project should not impact homes and farms without full consent. Let’s find a balance that benefits all without compromising individual rights.”
A petition opposing the current proposal says that “to date 1700 home and landowners have received a letter informing them that their property is on part of the preferred route for the Cork to Kinsale Greenway.”
“It will effect owners in the following areas: Waterfall, Ballinhassig, Halfway, Crossbarry, Belgooly, Riverstick and Kinsale,” it adds.
Locals are are “extremely concerned” about losing homes, vast hectares of agricultural land that is essential for Ireland’s future food security, and significant disruption to farming, the petition says.
In addition, there are concerns around “losing our ability to use our own land to build homes for our children in the future” and “our safety, security and privacy when subjected to constant foot and cycle traffic alongside or through our properties” and “the risk to nature, wildlife and biodiversity on this route”.
Local farmer Eamonn Walsh previously told the Southern Star that he did not receive any communication from Cork County Council about the proposed greenway.
‘The biggest thing from our point of view is that there was supposed to be a landowner consultation which was Phase 2 of the project but this was skipped,’ he said.
‘There wasn’t one property owner that actually got a consultation. No one called out to us or rang us and they seem to be railroading it along. It’s going through prime agricultural land basically and almost 95 per cent of the route is privately owned.’
He said the greenway would cut through his farm and two of his neighbours.
Cork County Council have said that the non-statutory consultation underway on the preferred route at the moment is an attempt by the council to make people aware of their draft plans for the greenway.
“But we need people to respond. We need people to write in, to make submissions, and let us know what they’re feeling. If they don’t like it, to perhaps set out alternatives, and if there is something we are not aware of, please tell us — we will do our best to find a solution,” they told the Irish Examiner.
UPDATE: This piece included a typo that said the proposed Greenway would be 300 metres wide, when it should have read 3 metres. We apologise for the error, the article has been updated 29/08.