Cork City Expanding City Limits
Starting on May 31st, 2019, Cork expanded their city limits to increase their size by nearly five times to now include areas such as Douglas, Rochestown, Ballincollig, Blarney and Glanmire. This will add 85,000 new residents to Cork City’s population bringing our total to 210,000. The plan was introduced in 2017 in order to increase the population size and to include already urbanised areas as well as to allow for any future plans of urbanisation. Cork City council are now in a position to drive on improvements in our infrastructure.
The government expects that the population of Cork will grow by 50-60% to at least 314,000 by 2040. They have announced ambitious plans to improve Cork’s road networks and infrastructure in order to accommodate our growing population. Cork’s Vienna woods is already well situated, minutes away from the City Centre, with new improvements to our infrastructure it will make Cork City and the surrounding areas more accessible to our guests. Our guests in Vienna Wood’s Hotel will be able to enjoy the benefits the boundary change brings in years to come, with expected increases in investment from new businesses moving to Cork. On paper the increase in population will make Cork a much more attractive location for investment as our city population jumps from 125,000 to 210,000 despite over 500,000 living within Cork County.
As part of their plans they are upgrading the nearby Dunkettle Junction to ease congestion and to allow for an improved flow of traffic. They also have extensive plans to develop a much-enhanced Citywide public transport system. This will decrease journey times and improved public transport will decrease the number of vehicles on the road, improving congestion. Lord Mayor Councillor Mick Finn said the expansion would have "hugely positive implications for housing, transport and other infrastructural development and investment in the years ahead".
There will be an adjustment period with over 400 services being switched over from county to city council services. The councils have put together two teams in order to accommodate the 200 staff that will be switching from county to city. The Irish Government has given Cork significantly higher targets to reach in the coming years. They have decided that Ireland needs to have two strong cities, Cork and Dublin. This will mean new areas of Cork such as Glanmire and Mayfield will be available for development.
