Tramore Valley Park


Tramore Valley Park is a park on the southside of Cork in Ireland. With an area of approximately, the park site is located on a landfill site which closed in 2009. While parts of the park opened in mid-2015, and had been targeted to open more completely during 2016, as of October 2018 the park had not been opened to the public on a broader scale or to larger events. The park was ultimately opened in May 2019, and is managed by the Glen Resource Centre on behalf of Cork City Council.

Development

The park was designed to have an area of, and was developed on the site of the city's former landfill, which ceased operation in 2009.
While parts of the park opened in mid-2015, and some events held in the park since September 2015, by late 2017, not all parts of the park had opened. While planned to open by mid-2016, by late-2018, access and parking issues had delayed the opening of the park on a broader scale or to larger events. Additional funding, to address these issues, was allocated in the Cork City Council budget for 2018, with a view to "open Tramore Valley Park seven days a week before ". By late 2018 however it had been reported that at least a further €6m would be required "to provide full and safe access to the site", and that the opening would be delayed until 2019.
Following the opening of additional pedestrian entrances, and the addition of 400 car parking spaces, the park was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Cork in May 2019. Further enhancements are proposed for the park "in the coming years".

Location

The park boundaries are broadly triangular in shape, marked on the south-side of the site by the South Ring Road, on the north-west by the South Link Road, and on the north-east by housing estates off the South Douglas Road. Neighbouring suburbs include Douglas, Turner's Cross, Ballyphehane, Frankfield and Grange. As Grange lies across a busy dual-carriageway, planning consideration had been given to the provision of a pedestrian access bridge.
As of June 2019, there are two access points to the park, with vehicular access from the N27 South Link Road, and pedestrian access via a walkway in Willow Park, Douglas.

Electricity generation

When completed, it was expected that almost €40m would have been spent sealing off the rainwater waste and harvesting any gas produced by the former landfill. It had been planned to use this gas to generate 0.5MW of electricity - enough to power approximately 400 to 500 local homes.
In 2012, Cork City Council and Naturgy Energy announced the commencement of energy generation from reclaimed methane gas.