EVIDENCE that Limerick City Council has sufficient land available to cater for the population growth projected for the city, has to be guaranteed. City planner, Kieran Reeves, advised city councillors that by 2022, the population of Limerick city will be in the region of 81,240.
“We will need 9,147 houses for the period 2010-2016 and we have residential land available at Coonagh/Clondrinagh (33 hectares), Clonmacken (23 hectares) and the former racecourse at Greenpark, South Circular Rood (38 hectares), and other locations.
“We have sites suitable for employment purposes in the Docklands, which would be ideal for major employment requirements, Ballysimon, Coonagh/Clonmacken and other sites, as well as the city centre, which is a major employment area.
“There is no need to zone additional lands in the city to meet the population target assigned to the city,” he said.
Cllr Michael Hourigan asked:
“How relevant is this, given we will be one joint local authority soon.
“We must reinvent the city itself and the city experience – we have to prioritise the city and lead the way for the new riverside experience – this is our golden opportunity to lead the way aggressively”.
Architect, Richard Rice, asked if there is an effective way to “incentivise people to build closer to the city centre.
“It could be worth investigating ways of prioritising the city centre as a development area for employment”.
Pointing out that “the problem is the high figure of the number of houses that require to be built,” Cllr Diarmuid Scully cautioned:.
“We therefore have to deal with reality”.
Warning against any dilution of the mayor’s office, when the joint authority comes into operation, Cllr Hourigan voiced his concern that the city council and Limerick VEC could lose their headquarters. to the county.
“It’s essential that the mayor’s office is not diluted – it is used to attract tourists and business contacts – we are adamant that we want the city council and Limerick VEC to be headquartered here in the city”.
Cllr Scully said that a transfer of the council offices and VEC to the county would take jobs out of the city.
