Cork-Kinsale Greenway public engagement process comes under fire – ‘take CPOs off the table'

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Cork County Council has been called on to engage more with landowners along the proposed route of the Cork city to Kinsale greenway and to take Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) “off the table,” amid growing local opposition to the project.

At this week’s council meeting Cllr John Collins put forward a motion calling on the local authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to “engage directly and respectfully” with landowners along the preferred route.

The Bandon-Kinsale councillor said people he has spoken to feel that engagement from the council and the consultant appointed by the council has been "extremely disappointing” and “multiple questions remain unanswered."

“These people are being threatened that if they don't sell their land willingly to the council and TII to create a greenway they will be subject to a CPO. The use of a CPO in Ballinhassig is wrong.

"To my mind, they were never designed for this purpose and are totally inappropriate. The idea of a CPO has to be taken off the table. You can’t sit down with people to negotiate something and have in your back pocket a CPO,” he said.

Cllr Collins said the farming community has always cooperated well with the council, “yet we are prepared to use a sledgehammer down on top of these people's heads. I feel that we are giving them the two fingers - sell or we will force you to.”

West Cork Councillor Daniel Sexton was one of many councillors to voice support for the motion, which was passed by the elected body. He said the public engagement process has failed and the goodwill of landowners has been lost.

“Some landowners got letters of notification in the doors. Others didn't. I think we need to put a pause in this project. The current proposed route corridor has to be looked at and a proper engagement needs to take place.”

Bandon-Kinsale Councillor Ann Bambury said the current preferred route “places a disproportionate burden on those living and farming along this proposed route. The route would significantly disrupt livelihoods, privacy and property rights.”

“It should be sent back to the drawing board. We need a full reassessment of the project's route corridor option, genuine consultation and early involvement from landowners, and adherence to greenway best practice.”

Councillor Ben Dalton O’Sullivan said: “I can't get out of my car in Ballinhassig or Waterfall or up at Goggins Hill for any reason without people coming up and saying how distressed and upset they are.

"I've had elderly people crying to me down the phone, saying how much it's affecting them and their livelihoods.”

“You can't really realistically say that you had completed a landowner consultation when the vast majority of the landowners had not been consulted,” said Bandon-Kinsale Councillor Alan Coleman. He said the whole process “has really gone haywire” and that it will be difficult to get the project back on track.

Cork’s County Council’s Chief Executive Moira Murrell responded that the public engagement process on the greenway has gathered a range of views from “very strong support to lack of support and a lot of people in between making very valid points.”

“There's a lot of proposals and suggestions and ones that we will have to reflect on. And ones we will, as part of the process, naturally take into consideration as we're looking at the next stage.

“And it does behove us as part of the process to take those into consideration now and reflect. And I think given the views and the disparity of views that are out there, it will take us time to consider and reflect on it,” she said.