The announcement this week of a preferred route for the development of a new road system from Cork-Limerick has done little to ease the woes of farmers whose land will be compulsorily purchased to facilitate the project.
With an estimated price tag of between €1-€1.5 billion, the proposed route would deliver 80km of “new and improved” dual carriageway between Cork City and Patrickswell according to a statement this week from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
According to TII, the N20 has a fatal collision rate that is four times the national average. This has led to the deaths of 62 people over the last 25 years.
“The provision of 80km of divided dual carriageway has the potential to save 200 fatal or serious-injury collisions over the 30 year appraisal period,” the TII said in a statement this week.
The proposed route broadly follows the previous 2010 M20 Cork–Limerick scheme, with between 30-40% of the existing N20 road expected to be reused in the development of the new dual carriageway.
In a bit more detail:
- The new route would commence from the existing N20 dual carriageway between Cork city and Blarney and continue reusing the existing N20 until Mourneabbey.
- It would then go east of Mallow, New Twopothouse and Buttevant, before joining back with the existing N20 north of Buttevant, before bypassing to the west of Ballyhea, Charleville and Banoge.
- It will then reuse the existing N20 Croom bypass before tieing back into the existing M20 motorway at Attyflin, near Patrickswell.
The TII explained that the project will also deliver 80km of walking and cycling infrastructure, connecting the communities of Cork, Blarney, Grenagh, Rathduff, Mallow, New Twopothouse, Buttevant, Charleville, Bruree, Banoge, Croom, Patrickswell and Limerick.
It is also understood that 700 landowners will be impacted.
Limerick farmer
Dairy farmer, Mike Carroll from Granagh, Co. Limerick is well aware of that impact and he did not welcome it when Agriland contacted him.
“From a farming, from a social, from an environmental, from a way-of-life point of view, personally, I am devastated,” he said.
He said he wanted to make it very clear that his dissatisfaction with the proposed route had nothing to do with a perception that exists that all farmers are against the project.
“That is not the case,” he said.
“We all have friends, family and loved ones that travel on the road, we know that the road isn’t safe.
“Something needs to be done. But this is not what needs to be done,” he said.
Mike’s farm is located very near where the Kilmallock and Newcastle West road meets the existing N20.
The proposed route would take six acres from his farm, leaving 15 acres on the other side of the preferred road option, he said.
The loss of the land, while a serious consequence of this preferred route, is not the most significant, he said.
He explained:
“It is taking six acres, which is the least of our worries really. It is awkward though and although we will get a cow-access tunnel to the land on the other side, if we want to get any machinery out onto that land, we have to go on a two-and-a-half-mile round trip to get there. It is a disaster.
“Our parents live about 500 yards away from the farm, here. The motorway will cut them off completely and turn their road into a cul de sac. At the moment, people walk that road, drive that road, there is everything going up and down the road, and they have company. This will wipe them off the planet as nobody will have any need to go down there,” he said.
And, if they want to visit the farm, it will take them a two-and-a-half-mile round trip to do so.
According to Mike, this preferred route was first mooted in 2010 and not a lot has changed in that time from his perspective.
“If you look at the map, you would struggle to see where they are getting 40% from [in relation to reusing the N20]. They have to bypass Charleville, the have to bypass Mallow, Buttevant, and more, it is impossible to see where they are getting that from.”
Another consequence of the road for Mike is that it will lead to increased traffic along the road where the home block is located.
He explained:
“Our small, local road will turn into a rat run as the kilmallock-Newcastle West road has an access point to the motorway and all the industry, farm, commuter traffic, etc. north and west of us will now pass us to get onto the new road.
“This will include a large quarry, piggery, concrete products supplier, tractor garage and all the workers that live in the area. Our small little road cannot handle that level of traffic, it will be a nightmare.
A quantity surveyor for eight years, Mike said there are alternative options that could be explored that would be far less costly.
He said he submitted such an alternative previously but nothing became of it.
“Farmers are not against the motorway, but if the motorway comes, which it will, we want our small issues dealt with,” he said.
Mike said he will do whatever is required to ensure that he, and farmers like him, get what they want.
According to TII, the project includes active travel infrastructure for walking and cycling; improvements to public transport; new and improved safe road infrastructure; and environmental integration for communities along the N20 transport corridor between Cork and Limerick.
Cork farmer
John Coughlan, a dairy/beef farmer from Buttevant, Co. Cork told Agriland that news of the preferred route was not good news for him, or other farmers whose land will be taken.
“This is a road that will go through a lot of intensive dairy farming country between Cork and Limerick, with a lot of farms severely affected.
“The government needs to recognise that the viability of some farms will be completely decimated.”
Motorways, he said, are not conducive to dairy farming.
The farmland required to facilitate the development of the new road, is premium land that is required by full-time farmers, he said. This land cannot, realistically, be replaced, so farmers must be compensated adequately, he said.
Regardless of the eventual compensation, he said he knows farmers whose farms will be split in two – a situation that no farmer is happy with and that no compensation can adequately address.
For John, an outside 60-acre block of land will be impacted by this preferred route option and, with it, a dwelling house that he had planned to live in when he retired from farming.
“I am not sure yet how much land will be involved but there will probably be severance in the block of land, and maybe about 15 acres taken in total
“It has a house on it – that I had intended on living in when I retired – but that house would be taken away completely from the rest of the farm, so it will have a huge impact on the block of land,” he said.
As things currently stand, he said, that house would be located within 100m from the new road.
According to John, planning applications submitted by farmers in the area over the last decade have not been granted or have been delayed due to the lack of certainty over the location of the road.
That situation must be rectified.
“There are farmers who have been looking for planning permission to put up milking parlours and buildings and they have been blocked because of this motorway. I think the important thing now is that those planning permissions would be fast-tracked in situations where the road isn’t going to now have an impact,” he said.
Uncertainty
John has called for immediate engagement between the TII and farmers regarding this week’s route announcement.
“We need to know if that road will happen, if action will be taken and when, if land is going to be taken and what the compensation will be.
“There is no point in me reseeding that land next year if it is going to be whipped away from me in a few years’ time.
“Equally, if it is not going to happen for five years, then it is important that I know so that I can proceed. Farming is not a one or two-year plan, we need clear direction on timeframes and what is going to happen.”
Engagement
Owners of property along the preferred option have been notified by post and invited to consult with the project team.
A number of public online webinars will be hosted by the project team on April 6 and 13, with further details available on the project website.
The development of the N/M20 Cork to Limerick project, identified as a priority investment in the government’s National Development Plan 2021- 2030, is being carried out by Limerick City and County Council, in partnership with Cork County Council, Cork City Council, TII and the Department of Transport.