The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE final presentation of the Ennistymon Enhancement Strategy took place at a public event in the town on Tuesday evening.
“There were a lot of positive comments and some other comments that we need to take on board. I think we satisfied more people and we’ll explore some things a bit further,” said Ennistymon Town Team member Maude Hogan this Wednesday.
“The crowd might have been a little bit smaller than previously, but then people are on holidays and some might feel they’ve seen it already. We’re putting up the presentation boards in the Library for ten days or so,” she added.
Ms Hogan said a lot of effort has gone into getting the views of locals and now there is a vision for the future of Ennistymon.
“It’s good to almost be at the end of the road and we now have a blueprint for the future. We’ve had a lot of consultations, in-depth ones, open public meetings in the Square, further meetings, Zoom calls and things like that.
“This, we hope will be the blueprint for the future and what we need now is to get money to follow up on the various parts of it.”
There are a number of different parts to the plan, but the most central one is enhancing Ennistymon’s Square.
“There are different aspects of it that you can do, you wouldn’t be tearing the town apart in the one day or anything like that.
“The most significant one really is upgrading the Square. There was provision for repaving the Square in the upgrade that’s going on at the moment, but we kind of held off on that, because we are hoping to do a bigger upgrade. That’s definitely the most significant one.”
When the Blake’s Corner issue is finally resolved, something can be done with old buildings at the site, but that’s more of a long term objective.
“Down the road Blake’s and Linnane’s, but that can’t proceed until the bridge proceeds and the old bridge is pedestrianised, then at that stage it can proceed. That will be very significant, but it’s going to be down the road.”
There are plans for works at the riverside and the existing bridge, along with some small works in other parts of the town.
“We’re looking for funding as well for some small upgrades on Parliament Street, around the Court House area, and some possibly on Church Street as well.”
Ennistymon has prospered in recent years, and while there is an issue with local parking, she feels that will be ameliorated soon.
“It’s doing well, Ennistymon is very busy as you’ll see if you drive through it. The streets are very busy, parking is a major issue but planning permission has just been sought now for a new car park just off the main street.
“That would be quite a large car park, that’s badly needed and it’d allow us to move cars off the street to some extent.”
In general the town is quite busy and the pandemic didn’t send it into any kind of downward spiral. “There are a lot of businesses, a lot of coffee shops and eateries, and they all seem to be doing well. The lockdown didn’t seem to affect it that badly, Lahinch continued to be busy and we got the spin-off from it.”
The Ennistymon Enhancement Strategy was prepared by Ennistymon Town Team and Helena McElmeel Architects, in partnership with Clare County Council and Clare Local Development Agency.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
