Hopes for Purple Flag to aid town’s economy

THE key to success in making Ennis one of the first locations in the republic of Ireland to attain Purple Flag status is strong involvement from the business community, extended opening hours and pedestrianisation, according to the local authority. It is hoped that achieving the accreditation could contribute “in a very real way” to the town’s tourism economy.
Both Ennis and Dublin are the first places in the country to explore the accreditation recognising night-time economies that are clean, safe and vibrant. They are currently undergoing a ‘Pathfinder’ process and hopes are high this will pave the way to a successful bid by as soon as 2013.
Five members of Ennis Town Council and one official recently travelled to Liverpool to examine the success of the designation in the city’s centre.
Ennis Town Council has been working with the gardaí, business community and Promote Ennis in recent months exploring the feasibility of making a formal application for designation of a specific part of the town with the status.
A recent meeting of Ennis Town Council saw town clerk Leonard Cleary outline what was learned from the Liverpool visit.
“This designation is an accreditation system for town-centre management, which combines a unique offering to customers that embraces aspects of urban culture, entertainment, retail, tourism and restaurants and so on. There is a particular focus on maximising the development of the night-time economy in the town centre. Central to this development is the creation of a safe and secure environment for customers.”
The delegation met with Liverpool local authority official Mike Cockburn, area manager for Liverpool city centre and South Liverpool, with whom they undertook various site visits.
He explained the partnership between the business community, the police and the city council in the development of the Purple Flag designated area. He also emphasised the importance of the Purple Flag being led by the business community.
The delegation noted the integration of the original town centre with the newly developed retail area and redeveloped docklands. “Its close proximity to the traditional town centre has sustained the traditional smaller units in the original city by focusing a critical mass of customers into a compact town centre area,” Mr Cleary stated.
According to Mr Cleary, Ennis can learn a lot from Liverpool’s Purple Flag status. “While the Liverpool Purple Flag experience is on a much grander scale, there are opportunities to replicate aspects of it on a micro-scale in Ennis. This could contribute in a very real way to the tourism economy in Ennis, which is one of the four corporate policy objects of the local authority.
“Ennis is already in a favourable position of having a number of vital components for a successful Purple Flag designation. These include being well equipped with CCTV installations, excellent policing by An Garda Síochána, attaining a high litter-free status in partnership with Tidy Towns and well-serviced late night public taxi transport. Ennis has a wealth of visitor attractions ranging from the medieval abbey, Glór, County Museum, various festivals, the Cathedral, the historic town trail, traditional pubs and traditional Irish music. Ennis Town Council has also embraced a wider development role as a hub town over many years.”
He added, “In applying the lessons learnt from the Liverpool experience, the Ennis Purple Flag initiative needs to be led by the business community. The role of An Garda Síochána and the local authority is to support the business community lead. In order to attain Purple Flag status, the business community need to make a concerted effort to extend their trading/opening hours in the early evening period during the summer season. Essential to its success would be the pedestrianisation of a designated area as a Purple Flag Quarter. Furthermore, as in Liverpool, licensed on-street restaurant, ancillary seating areas and an enhanced casual trading market area, incorporating some covered areas for customers, would contribute to the Purple Flag designation of Ennis.”
Similarities between Ennis and Liverpool were noted, including the attractions of both the River Mersey and River Fergus and the provision of ample amenity space.
“Like Ennis, Liverpool is kept in an immaculate condition. The advantage of having nearby airport access is also key to this project,” said Mr Cleary. He also outlined Liverpool’s capitalisation on its musical heritage as the home of the Beatles. “The delegation believe that Ennis can capitalise on our own world famous traditional Irish music,” he said.
“While in Liverpool, the delegation did view the contrasting side of the city, which involved larger urban estates experiencing extreme disadvantage in parts and public housing dereliction. In contrast, Ennis does not have this particular challenge to deal with.”
He suggested the next step in the Pathfinder process should be an invitation to Mr Cockburn to visit Ennis to share some insights. A site visit to the Dublin City cultural quarter seeking Purple Flag designation or to a Northern Ireland town or smaller UK town with existing designation was also suggested. “This visit would need to involve the business community, the gardaí and Ennis Town Council,” concluded Mr Cleary.
Councillor Johnny Flynn stated at the meeting that achieving Purple Flag status could have “great potential” for job creation. Councillor Mary Coote Ryan encouraged the town’s business people to “row in” and support the plan. Councillor Mary Howard commented that a lot can be learned from the Liverpool experience. “We have a lot here that we don’t even realise because we are so used to it. We don’t realise we’re sitting on a golden egg.”
Councillor Tommy Brennan stated that a lot will have to be done by the business community to make this work. “Facilities will have to be provided and we can’t have people walking around empty streets with nothing to do. There needs to be different opening times,” he said. He added that something will have to be done about wheelie bins being stored in the town’s laneways.
Councillor Paul O’Shea said the council should “capitalise” on the potential visit of Mr Cockburn. Launched by the Association of Town Centre Management in England in October 2009, the Purple Flag scheme is now successful in 25 town and city centres in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and there is growing interest from Europe, the USA and Australia.
While in Liverpool, the delegation also visited St Michael’s Immigrant Centre, which is one of several immigrant centres receiving support from Ennis Town Council. The council decided not to send delegates abroad on St Patrick’s Day but to combine a visit to the immigrant centre with the Purple Flag fact finding mission. The delegation was welcomed by the executive committee of the centre.