Officials from Castlebar Town Council presented preliminary proposals for the redevelopment and upgrading of Castlebar town centre to local business representatives this week.
At a meeting in the Welcome Inn Hotel on Tuesday evening Chamber president Peter Glynn said he hoped the plans would be “the catalyst for change in what was the jewel in the crown of Castlebar”.
While the plans were only provisional and lacked detail about the types of materials and design finish that would be visible on completion, they were comprehensive enough to give traders an insight into what the town council and Mayo County Council have in mind.
The idea is to completely revamp the Ellison Street/Main Street/Bridge Street area with wider footpaths, a pedestrian plaza, raised pedestrian crossings, new street lighting and street furniture.
Mayo County Council architect Padraic Kelly said Main Street had suffered in recent years bringing with it some negativity.
He said the two local authorities are seeking to invest heavily in the area to ensure its future prosperity. When completed he envisages the development will help restore civic pride to the town’s Main Street.
One of the key aspects to the councils’ plan is to enhance the pedestrian environment. Other starting points from which the plan has been based are the visual cluster of road signs and other signage, and the lack of maintenance and repair of the street.
He said by improving the physical appearance of the street this will act as a catalyst for everything else to flourish.
Vehicles are one of the biggest impediments. Mr Kelly said on a busy day you can’t even see the street and he reminded local businessmen and women of the “remarkable elements” evident on the street such as beautifully preserved doorways which up to now have blended into the background.
Pedestrian plaza
Access for all will be a major focus of the plan with the key goal to suppress vehicle dominance, haphazard parking, nuisance driving, widen the narrow footpaths, and remove obstacles such as lamps, bins, and bollards.
The piece de resistance of the proposal is a three-metre wide plaza at the top of Main Street, outside Kilkelly Travel and Henaghan’s Health Food Store. A second focal point will be situated further down Main Street where an archway beside Bourke’s Pharmacy, which leads across at an archway beside Wynne’s, will be enhanced by a large 5.5m to 6m raised pedestrian crossing linking the two. This is expected to increase pedestrian footfall to Main Street. Other pedestrian crossings will be situated at the Bank of Ireland, Henaghan’s Health Food Store, Hynes Shoe Shop, and at the Bridge Street/Lucan Street/Linenhall Street junction.
The emphasis at junctions will be to make them as pedestrian friendly as possible and redirect unnecessary traffic from the Main Street area. The junction designs will be tested by the council’s road’s department to ensure they are wide enough to allow a fire tender through and meet all regulations.
Included in the plan are 33 (half hour ) parking spaces which include two loading bays (the equivalent of two spaces each ) and five disabled parking spaces.
Taxis will also see a change to their current arrangement on the street with a six-car rank proposed for near the AIB and a second one for outside Xtra Vision. One rank will be an all-day rank while the other will be operational at night time only.
Issues about car parking; the finished look of the street (one woman felt the whole concept was too modern for an old street in an old town ); the number, size, and location of loading bays; the use of trees; bicycle racks and other issues were discussed. All utility providers have been contacted and urged to have their connections in place before work commences.
While the council has the funding in place to commence work this year, Mr Kelly stressed that there must be a “buy in” element from local businesses which have an onus to improve their own shop fronts. “We have to pull together all that Castlebar is, was, and has to offer. This will be a lasting and important investment for the town both socially and culturally,” he stressed.
Members of the public who wish to make a submission have until April 16 to do so at Castlebar Town Council headquarters, Marsh House, where a copy of the proposed development can be viewed.
