I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The County Borough of Cork (Extension of Boundary) Order, 1965, provides for changes in the Cork city boundary for the purpose of taking into the city certain adjoining areas of the county. The Order requires the confirmation of the Oireachtas. The object of this Bill is to secure such confirmation. The Bill was before the House on Second Stage prior to the dissolution and has been restored to the Order Paper by Resolution of the House. On the passing of the Bill the Provisional Order will become effective from a date to be determined by Order of the Minister. The present objective is to make the extension effective on 1st July this year.
In essence the case for a review of the existing boundary is that the city has outgrown its present administrative limits. The question of extending those limits has been considered on and off for many years. There was a minor extension in 1955 the chief effect of which was to take into the city land on which the corporation had already built houses. Otherwise there has been no change since the boundary was established in 1840 despite the great growth in the built-up area since then. The extent of the suburban growth over the years is reflected in the fact that almost one-third of the population of the built-up area at present lives outside the city limits. This growth is due in no small measure to slum clearance and re-housing operations by the corporation itself.
The city and its suburbs are an urban unit and the administrative boundary should reasonably reflect this unity. In practice the unity of the Cork built-up area has been recognised for a number of legal and administrative purposes including health services, planning, water supply and fire-fighting services and, to an extent, local elections. Indeed, most local government services are best and most efficiently administered on a unified basis in a large urban area.
Most people who live in the suburbs are people who work in the city and their dependants. They number about 35,000 in all. Socially and economically these people are orientated towards the city rather than towards the county. They enjoy the benefits of city living, including the specialist shopping, commercial, social and recreational facilities which are normally to be found in the central area. These people have a right to a say in city affairs. The city has a right to expect them to contribute to the cost of the services it provides.
The corporation has all the problems which particularly beset a local authority in a large urban area—the problems of housing, water and sewerage services, traffic circulation and carparking, public lighting and other amenities, health and social welfare services. In addition, there are some special problems. For example, the proportion of the population housed by the corporation is high and is likely to increase further as the housing programme develops. The corporation maintain that because the built-up areas on the perimeter are outside their rating jurisdiction it is not possible for them to provide and maintain the full range of services which the people in a modern city expect the local authority to provide.
The fact that the Provisional Order did not come into force on 1st April as was originally envisaged operates in favour of the county council. In effect the proposed boundary extension will make no difference in the rating areas in the current financial year. The county council will receive the rate revenue of the extension areas for the full year even though they will not have to provide services there once the extension becomes effective. The corporation on the other hand will have to provide services in the extension areas from the date of the extension but will not have the benefit of the corresponding rate income. No doubt the corporation will feel that this situation ought to be considered in due course in the financial settlement, but from the county council's point of view the position is that there will be no increased rate burden on the county ratepayers this year as a result of the extension. The county council will indeed make a considerable "profit" from the extension areas, in the current year. It follows also that the county council can rely on the rate revenue from the extension areas to meet the relevant part of the expenses of the Cork Health Authority in 1965-66 and that the problem which had previously arisen in this regard no longer exists.
The county council are not in favour of the proposed extension because they do not like to see the rateable valuation of their area reduced. There is also the point that the extension may mean an increased rate burden on the ratepayers in the rest of the county in future years. To meet this point, and to enable arrangements to be made in regard to financial matters generally, there is provision in Article 6 of the Order for a financial adjustment between the county council and the corporation in any matter that requires to be adjusted between them in consequence of the boundary extension. Compensation will be paid to the council in respect of any increased rate burden thrown on the county ratepayers by the extension. The compensation, which may amount to as much as ten times the annual amount of the increased rate burden, may be paid in one sum or in instalments. Instalments would carry interest in respect of the deferred payments. It has been suggested that the proposed provision for compensation for added rate burden is less favourable to the county than the treatment given to the Dublin county ratepayers when the Dublin city boundary was extended in 1953. I would like to make it clear that this is not so. In the Dublin case in question the financial consequences of the extension were agreed between the two authorities concerned. It was agreed that compensation for added rate burden would be paid to the county for each year for fifteen years, but there was no provision for payment of interest. In the present case if compensation is paid in one sum it will be open to the county council to invest that amount and to earn interest on it. Alternatively, a settlement payable in stages and based on ten times the annual increase in rate burden with interest in respect of the deferred payments, would be no less favourable and might be more favourable than a settlement based on fifteen times the annual increase in burden with no provision for interest.
I have discussed the financial aspects of the proposed extension in a meeting with the Cork Senators and Deputies and, as a result, the county council and corporation agreed to open negotiations on the financial settlement. It is my hope that a large measure of agreement on the financial matters will be reached through negotiations. If an area of disagreement should remain the Order provides that a final settlement will be made by me on the application of either party. If the matter should come before me in accordance with this procedure a decision will be taken with all possible speed.
In the light of this situation I see no reason why, following the extension, the county ratepayers should have to meet any expenses which would not have arisen for them if there had been no boundary adjustment.
The extension of the boundary was the subject of a petition by the corporation under section 25 of the Cork City Management (Amendment) Act, 1941.
There was a protracted public inquiry locally into the corporation's petition at which the corporation and county council as well as other interested parties made detailed submissions. The extension proposed is, I think a reasonable compromise between the conflicting views expressed. The corporation sought to take in a total area of 9,590 acres of the county, exclusive of a large area which is subject to tidal cover. The land which would be taken into the city under the Provisional Order is made up of three separate areas, a total of 6,278 acres apart from certain tidal areas. They include on the east of the existing boundary the townlands of Ballina-mought East and Lotabeg and the land between the rivers Lee and Douglas; on the south the lands north of the Tramore and Glasheen rivers; on the west most of the townlands of Ballinaspig, Inchigaggin and Knocknaheeney, and on the north the townlands of Commons and Kilnap and portions of Kilbarry and Ballyvolane townlands.
In general, areas which are developed, or on which building is likely to take place soon, will be taken in as well as a reasonable margin for further city expansion in the future. Areas such as Douglas and Donnybrook, which are built-up but which retain a certain social or historical identity, will not be taken in. It is important that the city should be given room to expand within the administrative boundary. This concerns the people in the city and in the suburbs, but it also concerns the whole county and region. As the second largest city in the State, Cork is the centre of an area of substantial industrial, commercial and social growth. If the city is to maintain its prominent position and to develop as a major centre of economic and social advancement in the region, it is important that the local authority should be in a position to plan for the development of the urban area as a whole and should have reasonable room for the accommodation of further expansion at the perimeter.
This is not to suggest that an indiscriminate sprawl of the built-up area is to be encouraged. The corporation will be expected to make proper use of the new powers conferred on them by the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963, to ensure that the future expansion of the city will be well planned and well balanced. I have already brought to the attention of the corporation the wide scope and urgent need for tackling the problem of obsolete areas in the city and for promoting the renewal of such areas as provided for in the Act. Only by full use of their new powers of positive planning in relation to development both in the central and the suburban areas of the city can the corporation hope to create civic and environmental standards befitting a city of the size and stature of Cork.
There is at present a considerable margin between the rate level in the city and in the adjoining county area. It is recognised that it might involve hardship for some people in the proposed added areas if the rate in the £ there were adjusted to the level of the city rate immediately on the corporation becoming the rating authority for these areas in 1966-67. I suggested to the corporation, therefore, that this adjustment should be spread over a number of years and the corporation have agreed to this. The Order provides in Article 14 and the Second Schedule that the rates on property in the added areas will be scaled up to the level of the city rate gradually by annual increments over five years. Agricultural land brought into the city will no longer qualify for the agricultural grant. Instead the valuation on such land will be reduced by 50 per cent and, in addition, the gradual adjustment process by which the gap between the city and county rates will be bridged over five years will apply to agricultural land also.
The county council would like to see the site of the proposed new council offices excluded from the extension area. This site is well within the proposed new boundary. It is not practicable in a broad adjustment like this to fix a new boundary by reference to the effect on particular properties or sites, which for one reason or another it might be said should not be included in the city. Any attempt to do this would give an inconsistent and irregular result. The headquarters of both Dublin and Limerick county councils are situated in the adjoining county boroughs and it is true of county councils in general that their head offices are outside their rating jurisdiction being located in the county town.
The Order contains a number of miscellaneous provisions arising from the proposed boundary extension. There is provision for the preparation by the Commissioner of Valuation of new city maps; for continuing in operation county council resolutions and orders where appropriate; for arrangements in regard to jurors books, registers of electors, employment and hours of trading regulations and polling districts. The corporation will in future be paid the amount of the agricultural grant relevant to the added areas and the grant to the county council will be adjusted accordingly from 1966-67. There is a saver from disqualification for county council members in the added areas for the duration of the present council.