Cork County Council sets out its land use planning strategy for the development of the towns and villages of the county in a series of Municipal District Local Area Plans.  The Plans have a six year life and the Council has now prepared 8 Municipal District Local Area Plans which were adopted on the 24^th July 2017 and came into effect on the 21^st August 2017.

Local Area Plans contain the detailed policy and objectives for the development of the towns and villages of the county and applications for planning permission are assessed against the provisions of the relevant Plan.

It should be noted that these new Local Area Plans do not include the former Town Councils functional areas and will not replace the nine Town Development Plans adopted by the former Town Councils of Cobh, Clonakilty, Fermoy, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow, Midleton, Skibbereen and Youghal. The current Town Plans will remain in force until December 2020.

Each Municipal District Local Area Plan consists of 3 Volumes set out as follows:-

• Volume 1: Main Policy Material (including small scale policy maps)
• Volume 2: Environmental Reports (which includes the SEA Environmental Statement and the Habitats Directive Screening Report).
• Volume 3: Local Area Plan Map Browser (large scale detailed local area plan policy map versions of all the small scale zoning maps in Volume 1 plus additional factual maps)

Volume One of the Local Area Plans (hard-copy or electronic format) together with Volume(s) Two and Three in electronic format only, may be inspected by the public, each working day, (exclusive of public holidays), between the hours of 9.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. at the following locations:

•  Planning Department, Floor 1 County Hall, Cork.
  •    Planning Department, Norton House, Cork Rd, Skibbereen, Co. Cork.
  •    Cork County Council Divisional Office at Annabella, Mallow
  •    County Library and Branch Libraries – Please check your local library regarding opening times and availability of PCs for accessing electronic format
  •    Online at www.corkcoco.ie at all times.

If you have any queries with regard to the policy content of the documents arising from viewing them at the above locations, please contact the Planning Policy Unit at 021 4285900.

Volume One of each Draft Local Area Plan (hard-copy) is also available for purchase. Enquiries to the Planning Policy Unit.

The full extent of the Town Green Belts are not shown on a map in Volume One “Main Policy Material” of the 8 Municipal District Local Area Plans, 2017 but the full extent of each Town Greenbelts in the County is displayed on the Local Area Plan map browser (click here). The planning policy for areas within the Town Greenbelts is set out in Chapter 4 of Volume One “Main Policy Material” of the Cork County Development Plan, 2014, as amended, and the maps are also available on the CDP Map browser (click here) in addition to the overall Map displaying the Rural Housing Policy Area Types on page 57.

Yes a series of Help Videos have been prepared to explain how the Municipal District Local Area Plan Map Browser works.