A delegation from the Castlebar Town Centre Traders group made a presentation to the Castlebar Municipal District of Mayo County Council this week outlining a number of short term aspirations they have that they hope would see the town centre rejuvenated.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Mary Fahy told the meeting: "A town without its heart is lifeless. We need the town centre to be vibrant, aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and a place where it is easy to park and shop." She went on to say that the traders felt that one hour free parking on the streets in the centre of the town and a €2 all day parking charge for the car parks in the town would be a major boost to the businesses in the centre of the town. She also asked if the Christmas time parking schedule could be notified to the businesses earlier this year as it was very late last year when they were notified.
The need for a bus stop in the centre of the town was something she also highlighted, saying that since the moving of the bus stop from its old location on Ellison Street, the number of people getting off the bus and walking down the main street in the town has dropped. All of the elected members of the municipal district were in agreement that a second bus stop in the town centre was needed.
They also outlined other issues they want to see addressed, such as being able to put out street furniture to increase the ambiance and good feeling in the town in the summer months, and getting the lighting on the main street increased, because they feel that since the old cast iron lamp posts were taken out the lighting on the street, especially in winter time, is not up to standard, and during the summer time there is now no place for hanging baskets to be placed to increase the visual appeal of the town centre.
The elected members of the Municipal District agreed to hold a workshop on the concerns raised by the traders with the council management and to liaise with a delegation to be selected by the traders group to bring them up to speed on the progress that could be made to address their concerns.
Ms Fahy closed her presentation by telling the elected members that they see their ideas as phase one of a project and they hoped to be back addressing them in a years time, looking forward to phase two of the project getting under way.
