The Chamber has prepared a submission in response to an issues paper released by Cork City Council as part of its preparation of a new Cork City Development Plan (2015 – 2021). The submission identified a number of key recommendations to support and enhance the city over the lifetime of the new Plan for instance:

• A new city development plan must be developed within the context of the wider Cork Area Strategic Plan which provides a comprehensive vision and strategy for the development of Cork City up to 2020.
• There are many good examples of collective partnership based approaches to city and regional development including Cork innovates, Energy Cork and TEAM. City Council must continue to place strong emphasis on partnership based approaches to planning and development to facilitate its successful implementation of the Plan
• Formal recognition of City Council’s commitment to the development and implementation of a marketing/strategic messaging plan for the region
• Detailed implementation and monitoring plans across the various sections of this six-year plan are essential
• Mechanisms must be put in place to facilitate and foster greater engagement between academia and industry to ensure that our learning institutions are providing the types of education and range of skills needed by the region. This will assist City Council in attracting inward investment and employment
• City Council must support schemes which incentivise construction of appropriately built office space so that Cork is best positioned to capitalise on inward investment from high-growth companies
• Implementing plans and strategies that revitalise the city centre and increase footfall must be incorporated into the Plan. For instance, City Council must incorporate proposals into the Plan which trial, test, evaluate and extend particular parking incentive schemes to increase the number of shoppers travelling into the city centre

The Policy Department would like to thank members who provided comments and feedback in the preparation of this submission.