Plans for a village within a city
It’s hoped the South Parish area can once again be a ‘village within the city’ following the release of plans for the area.
Public consultation has begun on the Mary Street, Douglas Street, and White Street Public Realm Enhancement Scheme which aims to revitalise one of its most historic and culturally vibrant quarters by restoring its distinctive ‘village within the city’ character.
It forms part of a broader strategy by Cork City Council to promote sustainable urban living focusing on high-quality public spaces, improved accessibility, and a more inviting environment for residents, workers, and visitors alike in the Douglas Street area and its surroundings.
The South Parish area is one of the oldest inhabited parts of the city. Settlements in the area date back to the 10th century and the Red Abbey, Cork's oldest surviving medieval structure, was built in the late 13th or early 14th century.
A spokesperson for Cork City Council said: “The area is currently characterised by its narrow streets, high traffic volumes, constrained pedestrian environment and limited public spaces. These conditions have long posed challenges for residents, businesses, and visitors. The proposed upgrades aim to address these issues by implementing a range of measures, including pedestrian zones, one-way traffic systems, rationalisation of parking, enhanced public spaces and high-quality landscaping.”
The scheme also includes the creation of a new neighbourhood pocket park at the eastern end of Douglas Street, providing an open space for the community.
“It is designed to create opportunities for the community to congregate and enjoy their streets with the introduction of urban greening, street furniture and playful landscapes. The project has been a community-led design with Cork City Council running multiple consultations with those who live, work and visit the area. The project team undertook several rounds of public consultation and used the feedback provided by members of the public and business owners to develop the proposed scheme. This culminated in two public consultation open days held at Nano Nagle Place, in September 2024, to share and get feedback on the evolving design,” added the spokesperson.
Two further public consultation open days during this consultation period will be held in Nano Nagle Place, where members of the public can view the plans, meet members of the design team and make their submissions. Residents, local businesses, and other stakeholders are invited to attend the upcoming open days, share their views on the proposals, and contribute valuable feedback. These events will take place on Friday 20 June and 4 July from 9.30am-7pm.
Observations and comments will be accepted up until Monday 25 August. It is intended to bring the scheme before the elected members of Cork City Council later this year for their consent with a view to starting construction in late 2026 or early 2027.
What's involved:
• Upgrading and widening of footpaths including the introduction of controlled and uncontrolled pedestrian crossing points through-out the scheme
• Re-alignment of the junction between Friar Street & Evergreen Street to provide traffic calming measures and provide controlled and uncontrolled pedestrian crossing points
• Re-alignment of the junction between Evergreen Street & Abbey Street to provide traffic calming measures and provide controlled and uncontrolled pedestrian crossing points
• Conversion of Abbey Street into a shared two-way cul de sac street, incorporating removable barriers at the junction between Abbey Street and Mary Street allowing emergency vehicle access through to Douglas Street from Abbey Street
• Introduction of a landscaping area that maintains pedestrian stairway access between Abbey Street and the southern end of Travers Street
• Creating a cul-de-sac on the northern section of Travers Street
• Creation of a shared active travel facility on Douglas Street between the junctions with Mary Street and Dunbar Street with emergency vehicle access only
• Conversion of Douglas Street into a one-way east bound street between the junctions of Dunbar Street and Rutland Street
• Introduction of a small city park on the eastern end of Douglas Street and removing vehicle access to and from Douglas Street from the junction with Langford Row
• Converting the signalised junction between Langford Row and Douglas Street into a protected junction with protected cycle facilities
• Conversion of Douglas Street into a shared surface two-way cul-de-sac street, between the junction with Rutland Street and the new city park
• Conversion of Meade Street into a one-way south bound street. Conversion of Drinan Street into a one-way north bound street. Also plann is the conversion of Cove Street into a one-way east bound street between the junctions with Meade Street and Drinan Street.
Also planned is the conversion of Cove Street into a one-way west bound street between the junctions with Mary Street and Gould's Square
• Upgrade of Red Abbey Square including traffic calming along Red Abbey Street, the removal of railings around Red Abbey Tower and introduction of enhanced landscaping and lighting measures
• Conversion of White Street to a one-way south bound street
• Provision of contraflow cycle facilities to allow two-way cycle access along one-way streets for portions of Cove Street, Mary Street, Red Abbey Street, Dunbar Street and Douglas Street
• Introduction of raised tables and crossing points at street junctions through-out the scheme
• Introduction of landscaping measures including trees, planter beds and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) measures through-out the scheme
• Introduction of seating elements through-out the scheme
• Introduction of bike parking throughout the scheme
• Introduction of TFI shared bike scheme on Abbey Street
• Introduction of community shared bin storage on Abbey Street as well as Dunbar Street
• Undergrounding of all overhead cables through-out the scheme
• Introduction of enhanced lighting through-out the scheme.