[ Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028, Section 15(2) Two-Year Progress Report ]
[OBJECTIVE 6.5] TREE & URBAN WOODLAND
[OBJECTIVE 6.10] CITY LANDSCAPE STRATEGY
Cork City Council appointed two Biodiversity Officers in 2023 to implement the biodiversity actions set out in the Heritage and Biodiversity Plan, embed biodiversity as a strategic consideration in the functions of Cork City Council and promote the protection and enhancement of biodiversity in the city. In addition, a Tree Officer and Landscape Architect have also been appointed in the last 2 years. This combined skillset provides a wealth of internal expertise available to Cork City Council. The Cork City Council Tree Strategy was adopted on 8th April 2024 (see Objective 6.1). While no additional Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) have been made since the adoption of the City Development Plan, creating additional TPOs is an action in the Tree Strategy. The NPWS-sponsored city-wide habitat mapping project (see Objective 6.1) will inform TPO considerations. The Tree Strategy also includes an action on developing an approach to create new woodlands, while the acquisition of land for additional woodlands is an action in the Climate Action Plan. Analysis in respect of deficiencies in tree coverage have been updated in the Tree Strategy and actions are set in the strategy to address these deficiencies. Cork City Council contributes to the planting of pollinator friendly species through direct planting and via the development management planning process. As of February 2024, over 1,000 native trees have been planted on the north side of the City by Cork City Council. The species included Alder, Mountain Ash and Birch. Green Spaces for Health (affiliated with Cork City Council) are planting hedgerows and Cork City Council signed up to the 3 Billion Trees Programme – to plant a few thousand trees (which contributed to 3 billion trees by member states of the EU).
This will be delivered as part of the broader remit for Objective 6.17 set out below. This work is due to be tendered in 2024.
[OBJECTIVE 6.12] LANDSCAPE PRESERVATION ZONE
6 planning applications have been submitted in Landscape Preservation Zones (LPZ) (or part thereof). 3 have been refused with part reasoning of the designation for the determination. The remaining 3 being granted after careful consideration of the LPZ’s site-specific objectives which determined that there was no detrimental impact of the proposal to the existing LPZ. This is a good indication that the City Development Plan’s objectives in relation to LPZs are robust and are effective in practice.
[OBJECTIVE 6.17] OPEN SPACE STRATEGY
Background work on delivering this objective commenced in 2023 and included the need to broaden out the scope of the strategy. It is envisaged the proposed strategy will set the framework to cover the following: • delivery of site-specific requirements, standards and enhancements set out in the Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy, • an updated Landscape Character Assessment (see Objective 6.10 above), • an Open Space Assessment, • Habitat and Species mapping and analysis.
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