Environmental Safety in Little Island Cork

Jrscruff

Hi,

Myself and my family are looking to move to Little Island in Cork and have a property in mind.

We have recently become scared by various planning proposals of waste facilities and also concerns of existing water treatment facilities.

Does anyone out there have honest feedback on what it’s like living on the island? I saw a post on here already about the same thing but it’s almost 5 years old at this stage.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Outkast_IRE

We bought here nearly 3 years ago, in a small estate of about 30 houses all which surround a large green area.



The pros.

- The train stop in little island is serviced every 15mins at peak times morning and evening. Great if you work in city centre or popping in for a bite to eat and a drink.
- The recent traffic improvements to the island have made a significant improvement at the peak times. Getting on/off the island is grand at most times now . Before at 4.30-5.30pm it could be a balls to leave.
- Dunkettle upgrade will be started soon so commuting that direction will become alot easier for people east of the city.
- After 6pm in the evening and at the weekends the island is relatively quiet.
- Centra & Spar in walking distance, glanmire only 5 mins in the car for supervalu, aldi, carrigtwohill only 5 mins away for aldi etc. Fitzpatricks in glounthane is an excellent small shop with lots of goodies made in house.
- House prices are modest (but unlikely to stay that way forever) , there is generally no anti social issues as the population is low. Generally quite safe but cause its so near the city there can be the odd burglary etc. probably far below the average but cause its such a small community word travels fast.
- Lots of sports clubs in easy reach - Leeside for soccer, Eirins own for GAA. NRG Express for Gym , Raddison for pool and gym , Fota if you want luxury pool and gym.
- There is a nice walk at the eastern end of the island which is great for dogs as its off the road , you can see great island, passage west etc.
- During the winter there is well lit walking route around eastgate which plenty of people use for running and dogwalking.
- Primary school has a good reputation locally. Fairly well thought of.

Cons -
- No Tidytowns as of yet, and due to the transient nature of so many working on the island some of them dont treat it with the respect it deserves so there can be some litter dropped etc, which is a shame but no worse than around the city.
- If you are the type who needs a local pub then a walk to glounthane is your best bet. I prefer to just grab the train into town and have my choice there.

With regards to the proposed waste facility, unless you are looking at purchasing next door to it , there will be little to no impact. The recently elected local TD has put an appeal in against it , so the story is far from settled.

I cant think of much else , feel free to pm any other questions.

Jrscruff

This is brilliant, Outkast_IRE. Thanks for taking the time to post this comprehensive list. I’m so glad to hear from somebody with first hand experience of living there and your comments are very reassuring. Through searching ‘Little Island’ on Google it seems the bad news outweighs the good, but I guess you could say that about a lot of things. It’s the locals perspective I was looking for and you gave me just that.

Can I ask a couple of questions on the points you have made, if you don’t mind?

Firstly, you mention the house prices probably won’t stay that way. This is great to hear as we could potentially be buying at the right time - but is there a reason you say this? Is there due to be an influx of new residents / planning for more housing etc?

Secondly the amount of factories and facilities (particularly the water treatment facility at the bottom of the island). I presume that these days everything is above board in terms of its impact on the environment and those living around them - but have you ever noticed any unusual smells or anything in the air? I appreciate this might seem like a really odd question but I read about people complaining about smells from factories and would love to dismiss it by getting someone’s first hand opinion! :-)

Final question - what’s the local TD’s name? Is it Padraig O Sullivan?

Thanks again so much.

Italix

The water treatment plant is fine, the walk around the end of the island takes you around it, I absolutely love the route, I've no idea why it just placates me.
AFAIK the only byproduct of the plant is drinkable water and animal feed, the very odd time there is a smell close to the plant.
There is an estate down there I wouldn't live in which I think is called Ballytrasna Park.

Outkast_IRE

There is plans for new houses but they have been knocked back by planning for now but likely to go again soon. There is also the golf club on the east end of the island that is closed and the land will prob eventually be zoned for it.
Look at the costs of the new builds on the island and the difference vs existing , the sales of these will raise values .

With regards to smells from the treatment plant , I live near the graveyard area and no smells this way, but I have heard some complaints from those living quite near it. The only time I smell it is when on the amenity walk around it and that is only at certain times .

The only smell I get from any factory is from the ballymaloe relish place when they are cooking a batch , but they operate day time and again the smell is only just outside it .

Most of your concerns are easily checked by just calling down to the island yourself

Jrscruff

Thanks both of you. My wife loves Ballymaloe relish so add that to the pros list :-D

MrFrisp

As far as I know, the new recycling centre planned for Courtstown has been granted.

Not sure how close to that you're planning to live. So, not sure if this will impact of your idea of living there.

I don't live there, but I work there. And all I can say is do some research on traffic. It can be a nightmare at times. Early mornings can be ok, evening traffic can lessen your will to live.

As pointed out earlier, if you like the occasional pint, I think you're relegated to the golf club, or it's over to Glounthaune.

It's mostly industrial down there, and just from my point of view, I can't understand why people live down there.

On the other hand, it can be handy for accessing different routes, Dublin road, East Cork, etc. But as I said earlier, a little incident/accident can cause chaos.

Hope this helps.
.

Jrscruff

Thanks MrFrisp. Still in the process of making a decision and it’s good to get all this feedback.

Outkast_IRE

There are well over 1000 residents on the island at the time of the last census and this have likely increased in the interim with some small batches of houses built in the last year or two.



The traffic is a non-issue since the upgrade in 2019, its slightly heavy for 30mins in the morning and evening each day but if you live on the island odds are you are not following the same pattern the 10,000 plus people working here are. The traffic issues now are the dunkettle and the south ring road which are problems for the entire city.



Alot of people live here because it offers very easy access to jobs locally, in the city and carrigtwohill.


I work in the city centre and take the train to work, door to door is 25 mins using public transport. The train is 99% reliable unlike the bus network. My other half works in Carrigtwohill, 10 mins door to door by car.



Throw a stone from little island and you are in Glounthane and the houses are +100k with arguably less amenities, even footpaths. Alot of the glounthane residents come to liitle island to go for walks around east gate in the winter and on the walk around the treatment plant in the summer and weekends.