The Strategic Area Plan will chart the growth of Cork up to the year 2020. It will call for a dynamic approach to docklands development and ensure that Cork city remains the "engine" of the region.
The plan will be published in the coming weeks. It is the natural successor to the Cork Land Use and Transportation Study (LUTS), the 1970s blueprint which had a profound influence on the shaping of Cork.
When the LUTS plan was conceived optimism was at a premium in a region that was being systematically run down, as the traditional industries of the jobs-forlife type left one by one. Nevertheless, the planners persevered, and in a far-seeing exercise, Cork County Council and Corporation joined forces to map the strategic development of the county until the dawn of the millennium.
The infrastructure visible everywhere in the region today is evidence of how the plan has worked. The Ringaskiddy deepwater port, new bridges over the Lee, the tunnel under it, as well as an elaborate system of ring roads, are its legacy. Now LUTS 2 is about to be born.
The new strategic plan is certain to have as important an influence on the region as its predecessor. The consultants are now ready to report to the two local authorities. This will be followed by a consultation process, through which the plan will be made available to the public for scrutiny and comment.
Within a year it is expected the plan will be ratified, signalling the beginning of two decades of ordered growth, which should lead to a much enhanced urban environment matched by careful development of the satellite towns in the region, a greater emphasis on commuter rail links and a public transportation system that will, in theory at least, reduce dependence on the car.
Cork's new city manager, Mr Joe Gavin, has taken over the reins at the City Hall as the last elements of LUTS are slotting into place. What was promised has been delivered, and the new era begins now under his stewardship.
A career local authority official, the 53year-old Mayo man was city manager in Galway before moving to Cork last month. He has extensive experience in local authorities across the State and knows Cork well, having served there as assistant city manager in 1990.
In local authority pecking-order terms the three most sought-after jobs are Dublin, Cork county and Cork city. Mr Gavin reckons his latest appointment will take him up to retirement, which means he will oversee most of the groundwork in the next development phase.
He said: "I think LUTS as a 20-year plan was an excellent model, a framework used to drive development and elements of which have been adopted by many other local authorities. The question for us in Cork now is where we want future growth to happen, where we channel it, where we should direct investment. "We must ensure under the new plan that Cork city itself is developed as the engine of the region, while allowing for planned growth in the satellite towns but not at the expense of the city. Cork has enormous potential, much of it as yet unrealised.
"The thing is to find a balance between doing what needs to be done in the city and developing the satellite towns like Cobh, Midleton, Blarney, Ballincollig, Carrigaline etc. I think public transport will be one of the keys. We will develop improved rail links to some of the satellite towns and reliable park-and-ride bus systems for the others in which the private sector will be invited to participate.
"The docks area of Cork is also crying out for development and could become a wonderful amenity for the city. This will be one of our targets in the new development phase, and a brief is being prepared for consultants on that basis," Mr Gavin said.
While the consultants' strategic report will provide the overview, it will not exclude the manager's office from having a hands-on approach in areas familiar to the public. One of them is Oliver Plunkett Street, which Mr Gavin believes is ripe for pedestrianisation. Effectively, the old street links the docks area to the Grand Parade, running most of the way parallel to Patrick Street.
"The street has enormous character and would be ideal as a pedestrian zone. I have asked the planners to look at it as part of the next phase of urban renewal. The concept I see is the removal of the narrow sidewalks on either side, and the removal of commercial traffic after 11 a.m. each day.
"A tasteful resurfacing and lighting scheme and a building restoration programme would work wonders there. I could see it happening within two years. There would be a natural synergy between the docks development and the pedestrianisation of the street," he added.
A new tax-incentive schedule making it more attractive for private property-owners and developers to make residential space available over existing premises is also being prepared. The new scheme differs from the previous one in that it is more focused and, where additional construction is required, it will also qualify for tax relief.
The general public, developers, auctioneers and financial institutions will be asked to make submissions to the corporation, and where appropriate their proposals will be given designation under the scheme.
And what about one of the great blights on Cork, its litter problem? Together with Galway, Waterford and Limerick, Cork is vying for European City of Culture status in 2005. Submissions to Brussels close today.
The campaign to win such a prestigious award could be the catalyst to galvanise an otherwise seemingly indifferent populace into action, Mr Gavin believes. It would be nice to think his optimism is justified. Successive city managers have tried to tackle the litter problem and failed. Corkonians, it would appear from all the ugly evidence on the streets, love their city but not enough to keep it clean.