Kilkenny signs a charter for a new century
As the historic city of Kilkenny prepares to mark the anniversary of 400 years since the signing of the Charter of King James granting City status, a charter for a new century has been ratified in the City of Aalborg, Denmark, making Kilkenny a full participant signatory of the Aalborg Charter for Sustainable Towns and Cities.
The Aalborg Charter for Sustainable Towns and Cities was ratified by Kilkenny Borough Council as a result of a motion by Cllr Malcolm Noonan in April 2005 and forwarded for full approval by the Aalborg Committee. On the 4th of July 2006, Kilkenny Borough Council became one of only four Local Authorities in Ireland to make a binding commitment to sustainable local development and joins a network of over 330 Cities and Towns throughout Europe who have made the same commitment.
The Aalborg Charter was initiated in Aalborg, Denmark in 1994 as a response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio in 1992, at which Agenda 21 was developed as a means of communities responding to the pressing environmental issues now facing us all. The ethos of the Charter is that grassroots participatory decision making is the most effective means of creating sustainable healthy communities, developing local economies and creating social equity amongst all the people of a city or town. The Charter was further copper fastened at the Aalborg+10, inspiring futures conference in 2004, underlying the will of participant Local Authorities to work towards a common goal of creating sustainable urban communities.
Signing the charter, Cllr Noonan expressed his wishes for Kilkenny as a result of becoming a participant in the Sustainable Towns and Cities campaign. ‘These are very challenging times for Kilkenny as the city develops at such a rapid pace, pressures on resources, air and water quality, transport and urban green space, have potential to erode the quality of life of people in the city and environs’, he stated. ‘Unless we start addressing these issues in a meaningful way, we will face very negative consequences in the future, we must also look towards the global picture and begin addressing climate change at a local level’ stated Cllr Noonan. The Aalborg Charter sets out clear targets in dealing with these issues and identifies the full involvement of local communities as the primary means of delivering the goals of the charter. The aspirations of the Charter have also been recognised in the Kilkenny City Local Area Plan, thus ensuring a statutory framework for its implementation. ‘The Secretariat in Aalborg will demand that targets be set and progress reports submitted on a regular basis, therefore ensuring that this is not just an aspirational goal by Kilkenny Borough Council’ stated the Green Party Councillor, ‘The Local Area Plan is the ideal vehicle for delivering the targets set out in the charter’, he concluded.
‘The benefits for participating Cities, in terms of networking and sharing knowledge of best practice, cannot be underestimated’ according to Mayor Martin Brett, ‘I am delighted that Kilkenny has become involved in this important campaign’. The official Aalborg Charter Certificate was presented to Mayor Martin Brett by Cllr Noonan at Monday’s meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council.
