Writes Tara Maher
The start date on the Carrigaline Public Realm Project has been pushed back, with hopes it will commence in July.
"The long-awaited Carrigaline Public Realm Project has been delayed yet again by Cork County Council's failure to deliver on deadlines, and it is simply not good enough", said Cllr Jack White last week. His comments came as Councillors were made aware that there would be no news by the end of May - as had been signalled by the Council.
"This project has been over five years in the making and there have been repeated missed deadlines, delays and false promises", said Cllr White.
"The Council had told us that by May 2023, the project would be ready to progress to Part 8 (Public Consultation & Planning). We trusted them to deliver on this, and then on the last day of May, we were told by the Capital Programme Implementation Team that, "additional architectural and landscape detailing are required in advance of launching Part 8.The designer has indicated that it will be early July before they will be able to have this information prepared."
Cllr White said, "I'm very disappointed at this update, it simply isn't good enough. They surely would've known before the very last day in May that progress wasn't realistic, and they should've told us that. I have community groups, businesses and residents asking me weekly what the situation is, and in good faith I've told them we would have something this month. It is embarrassing for us as councillors now to have to communicate this latest delay."
Cllr White has called on those working on the project to meet him at the earliest opportunity to relay the community's serious concerns.
Liam O’Connor, Chairperson of Carrigaline Tidy Towns also expressed his frustration about the recent developments and believes the decision on delaying the project needs to be investigated. It's been over four years since URDF funding was received and it will be another two months at least until plans will be made visible to the public.
“These ongoing delays are really disappointing for the community as a whole; it is not acceptable. Having no plans issued to the public, four years after funding was secured to create the final design, is baffling” Liam said.