Chapter 6 I Green and Blue Infrastructure, Open Space and Biodiversity
Landscape
6.15 Cork City as a focus for economic development and population growth is under constant pressure of development. The challenge for Cork City Council is to manage the city’s landscape in a manner that facilitates economic growth and development while protecting and enhancing the city’s key landscape assets and resources.
Cork’s Landscape
6.10 With the intensification of the City, its landscape and natural heritage assets are of huge importance to those living, working and visiting Cork. They are vital to quality of life, are non-renewable assets and help enhance the attractiveness and image of the city as a place to live and work. 6.11 Cork City has an attractive physical setting formed by the Lee Valley and Estuary and the ridges rising to the north and south of the city. These features are supplemented by a range of public open spaces, parks, walkways, public and private spaces, trees and tree groups, and together form the green infrastructure of the city, which play a significant role in supporting biodiversity, such as mammals, birds, invertebrates, trees and plants. 6.12 The distribution of landscape, natural heritage and recreational assets is vitally important to creating an accessible city. Cork City Council will strive to create a network of natural heritage areas and recreational open spaces / amenity areas by promoting linkages and accessibility between these areas and by using walkways / cycleways to connect them where appropriate, and to encourage active transportation modes. 6.13 Cork’s landscape forms a key aspect of the character of the City, its urban towns, villages and suburbs. Landscape is defined as an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and / or human factors (European Landscape Convention). 6.14 Landscape shapes our image of a place, gives us a sense of place, an identity and can be a source of pride and inspiration, and so influence our well- being and quality of life. All aspects of our natural, built and cultural heritage come together in the landscapes we experience. Landscape is a finite resource but is constantly changing through natural processes and through human activity.
Cork City Landscape Study
6.16 A Cork City Landscape Study was commissioned by Cork City Council in 2008 to establish principles and provide the framework for protecting and enhancing the natural environment and positively managing its change, as well as providing the context within which the design of developments can take place in an appropriate manner. This Study referred to the pre-2019 City area, and Cork City Council will undertake a revised landscape study that addresses the entirety of the administrative area including the urban towns, villages and suburbs.
Landscape Protection
6.17 Cork City Council seeks to protect and enhance the landscape character of the City by protecting the significant landscape elements that contribute to the general amenity of Cork City. This is achieved through a number of land use mechanisms in this Plan, including the designation of Land Preservation Zones (LPZ) and Areas of High Landscape Value (AHLV). 6.18 Planning applications within areas or on sites benefiting from such landscape protection must demonstrate that there is no resulting adverse impact on the landscape assets and character of the area, by means of a design statement that includes a landscape assessment and visual impact assessment the impact. The City Council may seek discretionary Environmental Impact Assessments on development proposals that it considers would be likely to have a negative impact on the landscape.
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Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028 I Volume 1
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