"Flats should be banned" - councillor
Fianna Fáil city councillor Dave McCarthy has once again called for his motion banning high rise development in suburban areas to be honoured following a planning application made to develop student accommodation on College Road in buildings ranging from three to five storeys in height.
Cllr McCarthy said, "I am now calling on the planning department of Cork City Council to respect the wishes of democratically elected memers on relation to this, and any further applications for
high-rise flats in the suburbs of Cork. I am objecting to this proporsal as I believe that flats can never work in a modern city.
"One third of the flats built in the past four years are vacant. We should have learnt from past mistakes when we knocked the Togher and Ballymun flats. This type of housing unit only promotes anti-social behaviour and should never be allowed".
To anyone, living in an apartment in Cork; how do you feel being told that your dwelling should never have been allowed and that by living in it, you're encouraging anti-social behaviour?
Councillor McCarthys remarks remind me of comments made by our Minister of Community, Rural and Gaelteacht Affairs, Eamonn Ó' Cuív on planning.
"We are a unique people and an ancient race with long-established traditions and settlement patterns. Why should we be forced to live by imported models, designed to suit people who live in totally different countries with totally different cultures?"
