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.
“Farming, artisan food production and the production of energy crops and renewable energy are key drivers of future growth in the economic recovery in County Kilkenny,” said Green Party Borough and County Councillor Malcolm Noonan.
Cllr Noonan believes that Kilkenny is ideally positioned to benefit from the Green New Deal which is now gathering pace since being adopted as policy by the new US administration and here in Ireland.
‘Kilkenny is still a predominantly agricultural county with a vibrant dairy sector and a growing number of specialist food producers,” said Cllr Noonan. “We are fortunate to have some of the best growing conditions in the country where the possibilities for diversification are good.”
While much emphasis has been placed on industrial scale agri sector, Cllr Noonan believes that smaller scale, local food networks, local abattoirs, farm scale energy projects and a return to locally produced food for local shops and farmers markets will best serve farm families creating a sort of fair trade network in Ireland and reconnecting farmers with consumers.
He feels that industrial agriculture has historically failed farmers. Farm gate prices have remained static or even declined in the last twenty years, a period where large agri food corporations and large retail multiples have increased their profits and squeezed many farm families out of business.
‘A new farming model based on the Green New Deal could see significant growth in employment in agriculture and energy production. My colleague Eamon Ryan has recently announced a fixed feed in tariff for small scale renewable energy projects. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and small scale hydro projects could benefit from this scheme and provide much-needed rural employment. The new LEADER programme has the potential to create jobs in niche food markets and eco tourism. Farmers markets and direct supplying to local butchers and shops could give farmers a much better price for their product, but the regulatory system must support this’, said Cllr Noonan.
Cllr Noonan pointed to the role of Kilkenny Local Authorities, Kilkenny County Enterprise Board and the County Development Board in facilitating an environment where local food production and renewable energy projects could develop and flourish. Declaring the county as a GM (Genetic Modification)-Free Zone and focusing on Kilkenny as a single brand in terms of food output could be an important first step.
“We should market Kilkenny as a high quality food producer and a county open to business for renewable energy investors,” said Cllr Noonan. “There’s so much going on in the county. It just needs to be consolidated, marketed and developed and then the jobs will come’, he concluded.
A meeting to determine the level of public interest in and viability of allotments in Kilkenny will take place tomorrow (Thurs 25th) in the Citizens Information Centre on the Parade.
Among issues for consideration at the meeting will be the possibility of forming an allotments association as is the case in other urban areas where allotments are run by local authorities. This is a means of regulating the activities of plot holders and to act as a support network, where information and skills are shared in the craft of gardening.
Cllr Malcolm Noonan, who will chair tomorrows meeting recognised some time ago that there were many people in Kilkenny City who had limited or no access to space for growing fruit and vegetables due to smaller garden sizes and apartment dwellings. Also, some people were attracted to the idea of allotments because of the possibility for skill sharing and learning. ‘I would hope that we can advance this initiative with the cooperation of Kilkenny County Council. Obviously it would be all the easier if a landowner were to come forward and enter into a leasing arrangement, but for the moment its important to get interested parties together to discuss possibilities’ he stated.
Guest speaker on the night will be renowned Gardener and Author, Shirley Lannigan who has written recently in the Kilkenny People about the importance of allotments in the community.
The relevance of allotments and local self reliance will also be discussed in relation to the
Transition towns initiative. Transition Towns is a movement that started in Kinsale, Co Cork and has spread rapidly throughout the UK, Ireland and in Europe. The aim of the initiative is to develop local self sufficent communities through support for local food production, reduced dependency on imported energy and fostering local community development based on interdependence and sustainability.
The meeting will take place at 7.30p in the Citizen’s Information Centre and anyone with an interest in allotments or community gardening is welcome.
