The Local Area Plans for Graiguenamanagh, Callan, Castlecomer and Thomastown were passed at this month’s meeting of Kilkenny County Council.
Cllr Anne Phelan said that although the plan for Graiguenamanagh was welcome she hoped that Graiguenamanagh “hadn’t gone below critical mass from the point of view of economic activity”.
Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser she said,” I hope that this is not too late for Graiguenamanagh. In this economic climate I hope that Graigue will continue to qualify as a town. If the economy was buoyant it might be different. Tourism is a fickle industry and can be unreliable. Graigue cannot depend on tourism although we are associated with tourism all the time. We cannot place all our eggs in one basket either. What can realistically be delivered for Graiguenamanagh?” she asked.
She also expressed her exasperation at the number of derelict sites in the town which she said, needed to be dealt with by the council sooner rather than later.
“This plan, although positive in its endeavours, doesn’t seem to have the power to do anything meaningful or practical. Derelict sites should be taken into the charge of the county council following compulsory purchase orders and something positive made out of them. A good example of this is the turf market which has turned out to be a very positive project after the council took it over. Derelictions are always difficult and we are not in the habit of disinheriting people. But we do need to try to make a positive out of a negative.”
Cllr Phelan praised the fact that the council had put a playground in place in Graigue and had also delivered on the bypass however, she said that more needed to be done.
“There is money put aside for what has been termed the Graiguenamanagh Project and I would like to see this come to light. There are a lot of positives in the Local Area Plan and I hope they can be delivered upon - particularly the lands behind Duiske College which need to be developed into an amenity for local people, the school and from a tourism point of view. Unfortunately, the timing isn’t wonderful but we need to be doing something to keep the community engaged,” she concluded.
Senior planner at Kilkenny County Council Denis Malone said that things have indeed “nosedived in Graiguenamanagh”.
“It deserves some financial assistance and maybe it needs to be classified outside of the norm. Disadvantaged status may benefit Graigue - other areas have got it and it is one way of securing extra support from central government. The local authority has earmarked funding too. I do acknowledge that we do need to do something proactive regarding derelict sites also. Its performance over the past five years has remained static at best and there are certain economic issues there. We need to put policies in place to address this,” he said.
