This is a press release I issued following the Borough Council’s purchase of St Mary’s Church and Graveyard. I have to say, I felt very proud signing the purchase agreement and to have played a part in bringing this day about. The Church of Ireland and trustees of St Mary’s have to be commended for taking care of it for so long under difficult circumstances. This site sparked my imagination at a very young age. The possibilites around its development and re connection with the civic quarter of the Tholsel are endless, a museum, wildlife garden, community centre, but most of all we can consolidate this beautiful part of the city for locals and visitors to enjoy, a lovely Christmas present. Happy New Year everyone had here’s to another great year for Kilkenny!
The acquisition of St Mary’s church and graveyard in Kilkenny City caps a great end to Kilkenny’s historic 400 celebrations in 2009. That’s according to Kilkenny’s Mayor Malcolm Noonan. In welcoming the allocation of 700, 000 in funding from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mayor Noonan acknowledged the priority given to the site by his colleague, Environment Minister, John Gormley following his visit in November.
‘I am encouraged that the allocation of this funding will now secure the long term viability of St Mary’s and establish it as a key heritage site in Kilkenny, linked to the Tholsel. As an ecclesiastical site, St Mary’s is important as St Canice’s Cathedral. It contains many monuments and features of international interest. I am delighted to have been involved in this process, particularly as I had set it out as a key priority in my agenda for my year as Mayor’ said Mayor Noonan.
Mayor Noonan acknowledged the funding support of the Heritage Council and the elected members of Kilkenny Borough Council. He also paid tribute to the Church of Ireland for their efforts in maintaining the property under very difficult circumstances for many years. ‘I now hope that the purchase of the church and graveyard will endorse the implementation of the Conservation Plan. While some work is underway on certain monuments, we will be looking at a long term strategy to present the site in an imaginative way that will build on the City’s rich built and cultural heritage’ he said.
‘Key to that development will be the reconnection of St Mary’s and the Tholsel perhaps beginning with the re opening of the arched gate connecting both properties. I envision both sites as a single heritage area, developing a medieval museum, re presenting the city charters and documents and creating a habitat around the graveyard, while giving the public access to the stunning array of tombs and monuments contained in it’ said Mayor Noonan.
‘However that is work for another day. This is a good day for Kilkenny. Our strongest asset is our heritage, and we have now secured the missing link in that heritage. I would like to pay tribute to the county manager, Joe Crockett and all of the stakeholders involved in this process. The cooperation of everyone involved has allowed us to avail of this funding opportunity and take ownership of this historic gem in the heart of medieval Kilkenny’ he concluded.
Following the decision by An Bord Pleanala to refuse planning for a major retail development at the former Mart site in Kilkenny City, Mayor Malcolm Noonan is calling on Kilkenny County Council to abandon plans for a redesigned bridge as part of the Central Access Scheme. He contends that the re design of the bridge and Environmental Impact Statement now represents an undue financial burden on the local authority and may never be constructed in light of the refusal of the citymart development.
‘I would largely agree with An Bord Pleanala’s decision, this is an edge of town site and a retail development on this scale could have potentially damaged the core retail area and city centre. While the short term construction jobs would have been most welcome, it is unlikely in the current climate that all of the development would have proceeded and I would now hope that that the project proposers will go back to the drawing board with a scaled down plan for the site that is more in keeping with the future needs of the city’ he said. He also said that the project failed to adequately address new planning and retail guidelines on edge of town and out of town retail developments and the damage they can do to town centres.
Mayor Noonan also stated that the Central Access Scheme (CAS) is so compromised now that it should be scrapped in favour of the completion of the outer ring road and the implementation of a public transport scheme and other mobility measures to service future needs of the city including the mart site. ‘The redesign of the bridge cannot be justified on cost grounds while our water infrastructure requires so much investment and our library services are chronically under funded. The CAS has already cost us signifiacnt financial and time resources and we the elected members have not been furnished with a costing for the re design of the bridge crossing’ he said.
He said that the decision to refuse the current proposal for the mart site should be viewed as an opportunity to look at the entire scheme, road infrastructure, connectivity and consolidating the city centre. ‘Kilkenny has been relatively fortunate, we didn’t over do out of town retail like other towns in the region. Many places like Clonmel and Carlow are suffering because of an over proliferation of retail on the edge of their towns. Kilkenny has a fantastic opportunity to get it right. I would hope that an imaginative re designed plan for the citymart site with a good mix of social and commercial infrastructure will protect our beautiful city while creating much needed employment’ he concluded.
The need for dedicated grounds for Kilkenny’s fastest growing sport has been put to Kilkenny Co Council’s parks staff by Mayor Malcolm Noonan. Cricket is becoming increasingly popular among people of all ages in Kilkenny and was once played widely throughout the county. Mayor Noonan feels that Kilkenny needs a cricket ground where the City Cricket Club of Kilkenny can call home and invite visiting teams to play.
At present the club have been using the CBS primary school playing fields. Recent signings to the club have come from Kilkenny, Tyrone and Lancashire and have other nationalities such as the Bangladeshi community.
‘With the success of the national team and the tradition of the game in County Kilkenny I think the time is right for cricket to have a home here in the city. It’s a relatively inexpensive sport for young people to get involved in and a grounds would not represent a significant cost to the Council if an appropriate site can be found’ said Mayor Noonan.
Mayor Noonan has asked the Parks Section of Kilkenny County Council and the Kilkenny Electoral Area Committee to identify a suitable site for a grounds.
‘This is a simple, healthy sport for all ages and I would be hopeful that we can find a home for Kilkenny cricket in the city’ he concluded.
September16th to 22nd is European Mobility Week and Kilkenny as a registered participating city has a journey to go in becoming a model for sustainable transport, walking and cycling. Kilkenny Mayor Malcolm Noonan is confident that Kilkenny can become a leader among regional towns in reducing car dependency and moving towards walking and cycling.
Mayor Noonan is calling on Kilkenny people to take advantage of the good weather this week and make extra efforts to walk, cycle and car pool where possible. ‘The theme of this years mobility week is ‘Improving City Climates’ and there is growing evidence that vehicle emissions in urban areas is causing an increased incidence of respiratory illness in children and older people. Cutting down on car use will reduce these emissions and help create healthier communities through more exercise’ he stated.
The Mayor is hopeful that a number of ‘walking bus’ schemes for schools will be set up over coming months. And with the Mobility Plan for the city up for consideration at next Monday’s meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council, there are many reasons to be positive about Kilkenny’s ambitions to create a healthier environment for the city s children.
On Sunday 20th of September, a half marathon will take place through the city’s streets as a ‘Car Free Sunday’ event. It will commence at 11am in Irishtown and finish on the River Nore Linear Park at riverside drive. There will be a fun run element to the event so the organisers are hopeful the good weather will bring out participants. Mayor Noonan praised the organisers of the event saying the growing interest in leisure cycling and mini marathons is the type of activity that will encourage reduced car useage and is a positive message from Kilkenny as we replace runners with cars on the city’s main street if only for one day.
‘400 years ago, traffic emissions were not an issue on Kilkenny’s historic streets. We can return our streets to the people but there has to be a massive shift in mindsets to achieve this. Its our role as local authorities to provide public transport and cycle lanes but people will have to join us in making Kilkenny a healthier city. I would urge everyone to make an effort to reduce unnecessary car journey’s he concluded.
Further information can be got at; www.mobilityweek.eu
Speaking following the publication of the an Bord Snip Nua report, Kilkenny City’s Mayor, Malcolm Noonan said that while the report has some worthwhile proposals, it largely fails rural Ireland and was written with a myopic Dublin worldview. Mayor Noonan is also critical of the report and its implications for local government funding.
‘Certainly there’s plenty of food for thought for Government in here’, he said. ‘However, proposals to downgrade rural Garda Stations and to merge small rural schools will further devastate rural communities who are already being hit by collapse in farm incomes, the loss of REPS and the removal of public transport routes. This is a hard nosed economic report and obviously it’s now up to NGO’s, and perhaps the ESRI to critique the document in terms poverty proofing and examining the social implications of each set of proposals’ he said.
‘From the perspective of Local Government, its very worrying indeed. A loss of up to ten percent of our central local government fund coupled with the dramatic drop in the Development Contribution Scheme means that funding for essential services and functions of Local Government is under serious threat’ he said. Mayor Noonan is of the opinion the Development Contribution Scheme was unsustainable anyway as it tied Councils to continuous construction development in order to fund itself and helped fuel the property and banking crisis. He said however that Local Government now urgently needs new ways of generating income autonomous of central government, in line with other European countries.
The Mayor also criticised proposals to remove funding for RAPID coordinators. ‘The RAPID programme for disadvantaged areas in Kilkenny like in other urban areas around Ireland has been hugely successful and very often the RAPID coordinator is the sole point of contact for many disadvantaged communities. The RAPID programme is needed now more than ever as poverty manifests itself in more and more areas’.
Finally the Mayor said that the report has put a dent in the ambitions of Kilkenny to expand the Borough Boundary as it is advocating the abolition of town and borough councils. ‘In order for Kilkenny to progress its ambitions we need clarity on this urgently. This is why I have asked the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley to address a joint session of both councils in October to address this, funding issues for local government and indeed the very future direction of local governance itself’.
I have asked the management to assess what deficits exist in water and waste water infrastructure and I will try to leverage funding to help advance these projects. Our priority in the city should be to try to advance the arts and public realm infrastructure, to prioritise the completion of the outer ring road and not to sink further resources into the Central Access Scheme bridge in the city.
He said in conclusion that local authorities still carry out and will continue to carry out many essential community functions such as the library service, arts, community development and heritage and environmental awareness. ‘We now have to focus on the positive and be proud as a Borough and County Council with what we have achieved to date, but we are looking at a complete root and branch reform of local government. Certainly a reduction in the numbers of elected members is on the cards, but An Bord Snip cannot put an economic value on effective local democracy and subsidiarity. Kilkenny Local Authorities are a model of efficiency and we must fight to protect the essential service we provide to the community’ concluded Mayor Noonan.
