Untitled - Cork City Council

Cork Strategic Retail Study
6.106 In the thriving towns in Cork it is evident that success breeds success, with retail as a
catalyst for redevelopment and that proactive partnership strengthens the town,
building the sense of commitment and ownership that attracts both users and
investors. Thus:
• Retailers benefit from increased footfall and turnover.
• Shoppers enjoy a pleasant, safe and easily accessible environment with a wide
choice of shops and facilities.
• Visitors are attracted by places of interest and entertainment events.
• Property owners experience a rise in rent and property values.
• Local authorities benefit from town centres that are vibrant, viable and meeting the
needs of the community.
6.107 Successful town centre management is often more easily achieved in the small town
context, as the issues are clearer and the will to succeed stronger.
Traffic Management
6.108 Traffic Management Policies should be a set of principles and criteria designed to
ensure a high standard of access by public transport, cycle, foot and private car so that
retail proposals can be easily accessible by all modes of transport and all sections of
society. An important consideration is to achieve improvements to the quality of the
public realm in town centres so that having accessed a retail destination shoppers can
circulate easily and safely on foot in an attractive pedestrian environment.
6.109 Parking spaces both for cars and cycles are a valuable asset to the retail health of the
town and their use and management should be planned accordingly. The use of
spaces on street can be managed by the implementation of Controlled Parking Zones.
Where demand for parking is high, time limits and charging policies encourage
maximum availability to shoppers and maximum turnover of spaces. Proper
management and enforcement of parking regulations is essential.
6.110 The quantum of parking to be provided with any new retail development should take
account of existing parking provision in the town. The Councils could consider setting
different parking requirements for town centres and other locations, alongside a
threshold below which parking requirements do not apply.
Monitoring and Review
Floorspace
6.111 The successful implementation of the proposed retail strategy and the continuing
evolution of successful retail centres in the City and the County depends critically on
active monitoring and management of the indicative floorspace guidelines at the
development control stage.
6.112 A system should be put in place by the City and County Councils to ensure that all
development is monitored on a comprehensive basis. This has not happened so far.
This will enable the floorspace requirements, particularly for convenience floorspace,
to be adjusted if necessary.
6.113 Alongside this study, we have provided the Council with a GIS database which records
the current uses of each unit in each of the centres. This can be utilized for forward
planning and in the preparation of Local Area Plans and Special Local Area Plans.
6.114 The data has been captured in MapInfo by linking digitised building footprints from OSi
mapping to surveyed tabular data by way of a unique common identifier. The building
outlines are gross floor space. Where floor space has not been surveyed, it has been
imputed automatically within the GIS by calculating the area of the building outline and
multiplying by 0.65 in order to get a realistic net floor space figure.
Roger Tym & Partners with Simon Clear & Associates
March 2008 55