[ Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028, Section 15(2) Two-Year Progress Report ]
With regard to Objective 3.21 (a) which requires purpose built childcare facilities as part of proposals for new residential developments of more than 75 units, 2 applications over 75 units have been granted permission without a creche. This is pursuant to the provisions of the Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments Apartment Guidelines (section 4.7 33 ), which provide a dispensation for one-bedroom regarding childcare provision, Other justifications provided at planning application stage for not providing a creche relate to the construction of a permitted creche in adjacent residential developments and the availability of childcare places in the area. In relation to Objective 3.21 (c) which requires that employers with over 500 staff to provide childcare facilities, there are no applications for childcare facilities under this requirement. Cork City Council and University College Cork are large employers in Cork City that facilitate a workplace creche. Pobal provides data on childcare capacity by age group. For the year 2022/2023, the data for Cork City shows that the waiting lists exceed capacity for children up to from 1-2 years, with little vacant places available across most age bands. This indicates that supply falls short of meeting demand in terms of available creche places 34 .
Figure 50: Childcare Facilities Planning Permissions Granted Q3, 2022 and Q1, 2024 re Facilities - Planning Permissions granted between Q3 2022 – Q1 2024
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Source: Cork City Council
33 “One-bedroom or studio type units should not generally be considered to contribute to a requirement for any childcare provision and subject to location, this may also apply … to units with two or more bedrooms.” 34 Source: Pobal Data: https://www.pobal.ie/childcare/capacity/
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