Annaghmore

JP Liz

new town at Annaghmore, near Innishannon

A proposed new development at Annaghmore in Co Cork is facing opposition from local residents. O'Flynn Construction is seeking to have agricultural land rezoned in order to accommodate new development.
The proposed development would have housing units of varying size to accommodate 5,000-6,000 residents, as well as facilities for 4,500-5,000 workers. The plan also includes large sites for major IDA-backed firms, a business park and light industrial units.
Local residents and members of the Annaghmore Inishannon Interest Group have a range of concerns, among them the risk of flooding. The English translation of the name Annaghmore is `big bog' and the Ordnance Survey map for the area contains the inscription "liable to flood".
According to the group, flooding occurs frequently in the area over the winter months. They claim that the river also has a slow flow rate and that waste water flow in the dry spell could be as much as 35 per cent. As there is no rail link to the area, they also feel that the proposed development is likely to cause grave traffic congestion.
"The fact that Annaghmore is a sheltered valley with very poor air dispersion means that smog will fester. Anyone living in the area can confirm that fog disappears from surrounding areas long before it leaves Annaghmore," said spokesperson Denise Kelleher.
Residents have also cast doubt on the demographic projections outlined by O'Flynn Construction.
In his submission to the Cork Strategic Plan and the Cork County Development Plan, resident Donal O'Sullivan noted that O'Flynn Construction justified the Annaghmore plan on the basis of forecasts which outline a need for an additional 60,000 new homes by 2020. He says the figure is vastly over-estimated and that 29,000 is a more realistic prospect.
O'Sullivan also questioned forecasts predicting an average annual population increase of over 1 per cent, on the grounds that this was put together before the recent economic uncertainty and does not anticipate a slowdown in the number of Irish emigrants returning from abroad.
"Annaghmore would quite likely become one of the less desirable locations in which to live, due to the artificial nature of the development and the lack of a rail link," he said.
However, Michael O'Flynn, managing director O'Flynn Construction, said that the zoning proposal represents an ideal opportunity to develop a housing and employment hub in an area of Cork that has not seen a lot of development.
"In addition, the draft Cork Strategic Plan identifies north and east Cork as areas of potential development. I have researched this project in depth and, if zoning is achieved, I will carry out an environmental impact study prior to making a planning proposal," he said.
O'Flynn disputes the argument that there is poor air dispersion. He also stressed that although the area contains some bogland, it also boasts excellent farmland. He claimed the proposal "has been widely welcomed by the majority in the area" and said its future was now a matter for policy makers.
Residents have had two public meetings with O'Flynn Construction, but some say too many questions have been left unanswered. "We still don't know how waste is to be disposed of or whether the land will be raised. We really don't feel we've been given enough time and notice to present our case," one resident said.
A draft County Development Plan for Cork is due to be presented to all 48 local councillors in mid-October.

elainee

JP Liz wrote: »

new town at Annaghmore, near Innishannon

I live very near to annamoore and am for the proposed town I think the positives outway the negatives. The only issue I'd have is I think the area should be called crossbarry rather than annamoore.it will bring in jobs sports facilitys I think its a great idea.the one fault would be the traffic so would expect bus routes or if they could get the old train line back in action.

jacqueline Cott

.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.EC_hmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;}
.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.EC_hmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;}
.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.EC_hmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;}

I don't know if I've ever smelt a Lotus Flower, I'm not sure if you can buy them
in Irish florists or not, or are they just a foreign species to be found in some far off paradise.
I don't even know if they have a nice scent, or are they an acquired smell like the sickly orchid?
To be honest, I haven't a clue. But on a TV advert, running at the moment, I'm told
that I can make my clothes smell of "Lotus flower and white diamond infusions" by using a certain
fabric conditioner. Now, I'm absolutely certain that white diamonds do not have a smell and, being the hardest substance
on earth, it would be a pretty impressive factory that could 'infuse' white diamonds and lotus flowers
to make a fabric conditioner. But this advert works! The lady looks lovely in her dress and the flowers and diamonds
sparkle around her. Add to that the romance and the music and I suspect that a lot of women buy this product even though it's a
load of old baloney. You can't smell of diamonds!
Even the stinking, rotten rich can be persuaded to part with their cash for rubbish. I saw a newspaper advert recently
for an auction at The K Club. Amongst the many silly and useless items up for auction was a small bottle of 'Clive Christian
Royal Imperial Perfume', for €150,000. I wouldn't buy it if it was for sale at a local jumble shop for 50cent. It could
smell like cats' piss once opened and God knows how old it could be, and who the hell is Clive Christian, anyway!? But some
mindless idiot will part with such a colossal amount of money to, possibly, smell like wee wee.

You see we can be persuaded to buy almost anything. Some people can sell oil to the Arabs. That is their gift,
to persuade the gullible that they need the goods that are for sale. They are honoured for their abilities by being given
top jobs in companies as Heads of sales and Marketing or as Advertising Executives, when really they are just bloody good at
fooling us by clever manipulation of audio, audio-visual and print technologies.
The people who started the pyramid schemes in Ireland, which took a deeper root in West Cork than anywhere else,
were good at persuading gullible, if not greedy, fools that this was a win win situation and eventually they pitted neighbour against
neighbour in a money scam that saw many lose thousands.

I always think that Ireland has a bigger share of these con merchants than anywhere else. The person who has the 'gift of the gab',
or someone who is good with words, or who has 'kissed the blarney', is admired in Ireland. Irish people delight in good storytellers and
word games and word battles. It is a country that is very word-centric and, as a result, has some of the best playwrights
in the world though, sadly, not many are educated enough to know this. So, it's not surprising, that in a time of
deep recession the only game-show that RTE has copied wholesale from another country is 'The Apprentice', because it extols the
virtues of good salesmanship, a thing that is prized in Ireland. We also hear many people calling for the support of entrepreneurs
during these trying times because it's seen as being 'the way forward', perhaps by generating new businesses and money
on the backs of these budding clever sales people and their ideas, many of whom will end up selling us things we really could live quite happily without.

In fact, if we analyse the whole economic mess that is specific only to Ireland, leaving aside the world crisis that is contributing to it, we
see that it was the clever sales guys from the housing market and the building industry who led us all up the garden path to destruction by
persuading us that this sector of our economy was the boiler house of the celtic tiger. Even Mr. Cowen gave all the countrys' marbles to these
guys and now he's lost the lot. The bank managers were fooled too, if you really think about it. Ireland is a country that lacks, in my deeply thought opinion, any professionalism and accountability at high levels. Men with super wads of cash were able to wander around the country at the height of the Celtic Tiger, unchecked, like the storytellers of old, selling us tales of wealth and prosperity if we built houses, and more houses, anywhere and anyhow. Houses were built without local infrastructure or services or detailed planning and thrown up in any old area. Building a house cheaply and selling it at many times
that amount became the easy way to make money and add to the coffers of the government. Hey Ho, let's go!!! Build millions of the things! So much building
took place that practically all of Poland's construction workers came over for a piece of the action.
Please, let's get real now. The proposal this week to build a new town for West Cork, well, south side of Cork City actually, north of Innishannon, is ludicrous!
We do not need to build anymore houses for a while. But, now the recession is here, we have the sales guys out again, this time with a
different story and wearing different hats. Let's build a town this time, called Annaghmore, because it will create jobs! They are now the saviours come to rescue ailing recession-hit West Cork by 'widening roads' and building 'self-sustaining towns'. Hey, guess what, all towns of a reasonable size are 'self-
sustaining'. I live in one called Skibbereen, Bandon is one, so is Baltimore....listen to the patter.........open your ears!
A mouthpiece from the developers, O'Flynn, continues on local radio by saying that it will 'put West Cork on the map'. West Cork has been 'on the map' for thousands of years...Oh, sorry, he means it will get us noticed! So, our beautiful countryside, rugged coast, tourist attractions and
all that has brought visitors to West Cork for decades means nothing to him? In other words, West Cork is a non-entity of a place that really needs a new town to make it come alive. Open your ears to that sales patter!
He also suggests that businesses like Fuschia, very specific to West Cork, and companies that deal in local artisan foods, which has really taken off
in West Cork, will need a place to locate to. Er....hang on a moment.....so, Fuschia don't have a place already and where are all the artisan companies
based at the moment? Unravel the sales patter and the rubbish, open your ears, and you will find hollow and worthless blarney.
Don't forget for €150,000 one can buy a bottle of potential cats' piss!
What West Cork really needs is it's ferry back, it's airport debt paying off, investment in the N71 and huge investment in public transport so that
existing businesses can flourish and people already located in West Cork can commute easily from their homes. A light rail would connect the
fractured nature of West Cork that this man also seems to pick out as a problem and can be fixed by this new town? Work that one out!
We can't attract businesses to West Cork if the infrastructure isn't there. The dual carriageway this man also promises will happen
on the N71, at the building site of Annaghmore, will merely facilitate the movement of builders lorries so that the local yokels don't get
upset for a year while tons of rubble,muck, concrete and steel get carted slowly around.
He may as well have promised a road that smells of white diamonds and lotus flowers for all the good it will be as an extra lane for
the hard pressed commuters of West Cork, who, actually, needed an upgrade of the whole N71 over a decade ago.

For goodness sake. Will we never learn to say no to people who really fool us. Even in times of such hardship the con merchants are
always about and the lack of checks and balances in the system means that they can get away with selling us a whole bloody town
this time, right under the noses of the experts who, if one check the archives, say that this town is doomed for many enviromental
and economic reasons. Flood planes, other unsold houses in close proximity, etc, etc.....
I think that if this plan does get the green light I will write to the relevant government departments and ask for an investigation into
the lack of building regulations in Ireland and specifically into the lack of expertise and regulations that allows a regional council to build a whole
new town while the area South West of the development suffers in many ways through a total and utter lack of investment. Madness is prevailing.

Jacqueline Cotter
Skibbereen
West Cork

alanholland

95% of local residents in a recent meeting were opposed to the new town at Annaghmore (between Bandon & Cork). Here is a summary of some of the objections: (http://www.annaghmore.org)
* Annaghmore (meaning "big bog" in Irish) is prone to flooding and part of the site consists of a flood plain that protects Ballinhassig, Ballygarvan and Carrigaline from flooding downstrean.
* The N71 is already saturated with traffic. In the Cork Area Strategic Plan, the rail corridor between the city and Midleton was identified as a strategic growth area. This development would be at odds with that objective.

Furthermore, no provision or recommendation has been made for this town in the strategic planning of
* Secondary schools
* Service infrastructure i.e. water supply, waste management/disposal, sewage treatment/disposal
* Social/community development
* Housing allocation
* Retail allocation
* Economic development and its possible negative impact on Bandon/Kinsale/Clonakilty/Bantry/Skibbereen/Ballincollig/Midleton

You can send an objection from http://www.annaghmore.org