Cork City Council Launches Innovative Air Quality Strategy
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr Colm Kelleher today launched the Cork City Council 2021-2026 Air Quality Strategy at one of the two city centre locations where five ʻCityTreesʼ have been installed. Cork City Council is the first local authority in the country to devise such a strategy and this follows on from the delivery of a high-level air quality monitoring system across the city and the introduction of an ambitious city centre pedestrianisation programme over the past year. Over €2 million has been invested in cycling infrastructure including the addition of over 20km of new and improved cycling lanes and the installation of 4km of bollards to make cycling safer and more attractive. The National Transport Authority has committed 3.5bn as part of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy to the development of world-class sustainable transport solutions in Cork. The Air Quality Strategy sets out short, medium, and long-term initiatives to improve air quality in Cork City including proposing: • A ʻlast mile Electric Vehicle Deliveryʼ service for HGV (heavy goods vehicles) in the city. • The creation of Low Emission Zones /Clean Air Zones • The increase of tree cover in the city including the development and enhancing of ecological corridors, the securing of wetland areas, increasing the number of pocket parks and parklets and the expansion of areas to be used to offset carbon levels. Next year, it is expected that up to 1,500 trees will be planted following the planting of 1,200 this year – a sixfold increase on the year previous.
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