Cork’s Northside is the second most littered area in Ireland, IBAL survey reveals
However, there was good news for the City Centre and Mahon….
The Northside of Cork City is the second-most littered area in all of Ireland.
That’s according to the latest ‘Irish Businesses Against Litter’ survey, which shows that across 40 different towns, cities, and suburban areas, the area immediately north of the Lee ranks 39th, and is considered to be ‘seriously littered’.
Despite the group noting improvements in some areas, the Northside of the city had a drop overall, with sites at Fairfield Meadows, North Monastery Road, St Mary’s Road and Gerald Griffin Avenue, Pophams Road and Cathedral Road receiving particularly poor grades.
The site at Fairfield Meadows, which the most recent report refers to as a ‘waste ground’, and gave a D grading, saying that “This site wasn’t just littered dumped upon. Large scale and widespread dumping has taken place over a large area – all manner of household dumping has taken place.
“Planning Permission notice relates to 2023,” continued the report. “Where does responsibility for this site now lie? It will only deteriorate further if not addressed.”
Another vacant site at No 7, Popham’s Road, was also highlighted once again in the survey, which is the first for this year. “This boarded-up house has scored poorly in previous IBAL surveys, but this time around the dumping appears to be more pronounced,” said the report. “Not only was it dumped upon, but it has also suffered from vandalism and graffiti – and this, right in the middle of a series of houses.”
In summary, the An Taisce report notes a ‘dip’ in the northside’s results, with just four out of 20 sites receiving an A Grade (Fairhill Drive, Shops at the corner of Bakers Road and Cathedral Road, No 14 Cathedral Road and Kilmore Road Lower). However, the report says that “if some of the moderately littered sites improved, that could make a difference to the overall result. As a general note, many of the sites surveyed within this area were devoid of litter bins, litter awareness notices, cigarette butt units, dog fouling signage and facilities for same.
Speaking of the four lowest graded sites, the report says that “the presence of four such heavily littered/dumped upon sites and the dearth of top-ranking sites will have impacted Cork North City’s overall ranking.”
However, the city centre paints a better picture, regaining its ‘clean’ status after a number of years, with no litter blackspots, and only ‘two seriously littered sites’, at Kent Station and along Anderson’s Quay.
Cork City Council’s work on Patrick’s Street was in line for particular praise, with its A Grade called ‘a commendable achievement’ by An Taisce. “Patrick Street was looking exceptionally well, with paving, seating, bicycle parking, tree planting, etc, all in very good order,” said the report of the city’s primary thoroughfare. “The colourful mural looked very well. There was a virtual absence of litter throughout – it was very much deserving of the top litter grade.”
In relation to the city’s train station, the report says that, “the main station entrance presented well, but a more thorough approach to the cleaning of the car park is required to address the heavy build up of ‘long-lie’ litter.
“The most obvious litter items were cigarette butts, bus / train tickets and chewing gum, along with lower levels of coffee cups, plastic bags, fast-food wrappers, mineral cans and sweet wrappers.”
Overall, the report said there was ‘great progress’ and congratulated all involved in the efforts, noticing wall murals used to brighten up South Terrace.
Cork City’s placing out of 40 was 26, and right behind it is the final area on Leeside taken in as part of the survey, which was ‘Mahon – Cork City’. This area was one of the most littered on the list, and in 2023 was the only one in the survey considered ‘seriously littered’.
However, this year’s report congratulates the area on its clean status, “the area has seen huge progress in a short couple of years, when it was very much towards the bottom of the IBAL League. This time around there were no litter blackspots and just two seriously littered sites.”
Avenue de Rennes, an essential link road in Mahon, had been considered a serious litter blackspot in recent surveys, but the An Taisce report noted that ‘significant improvements’ were noted on the road, which hosts Nagle Secondary School as well as a number of local pubs, shops, and takeaways.
However, the report does say that there was still a “heavy fast-food related presence” on the road, as well as cigarette butts.
Mahon Retail Park, and as the Deposit Return Scheme outside of Tesco in Mahon Point all received A grades, which will have been of great satisfaction to the management of Mahon Point Shopping Centre, while Skehard Road also received the top grade, with the report noting that it wasn’t affected by ongoing roadworks on the street
The Northside of Cork City is the second-most littered area in all of Ireland.
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