Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS said it will not accept a Fianna Fáil bill that proposes to create ‘town teams’ that would oversee the revitalisation of urban centres across the country.
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, the Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan said that while Barry Cowen’s private members’ bill contained some good proposals much of what was being put forward has already been done by the government
“I do believe putting in another layer would be confusing,” she said of the proposed ‘town teams’.
The Local Government Town Centres Bill, proposed by Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen, would create the ‘town teams’ in each local authority that would be charged with overseeing a range of revitalisation plans.
Among the responsibilities of the teams would be revamping the current system of commercial rates, changes to parking charges, greater flexibility on building use, changes to planning laws to encourage town centre development, and abolition of upward only rent review.
“Under the bill each town would have a team drawn from business, civil service, politics, Gardai and Civic groups to evaluate the issues the town faces,” Cowen said.
“While the broader difficulties are nationwide problems they manifest themselves in different ways on the ground. A localised team for each town allows them to identify their own local needs and requirements rather than an unwieldy top down approach.”
Cowen said there is a “crisis in Irish towns” where “outside of the M50 towns are struggling with an incessant stream of closures”.
Speaking for Sinn Féin, Brian Stanley called for a referendum on upward only rent reviews if one is needed. The government has said that abolishing upward only rents would be problematic due to constitutional difficulties.
Stanley said there was not a need for full-time ‘town teams’ but voluntary ones that would be backed up with “strong local government”.
O’Sullivan acknowledged that “life has been sucked out of our town centres” as a result of the economic collapse and said that “vibrant town centres contribute to social inclusion”.
She said one of the best ways of addressing this would be overall economic recovery.
The Minister said that while Cowen’s proposals “have merit” they do not require the structures he has proposed, highlighting the government’s own plans to create municipal districts within new local authority structures.
Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan said that establishing another structure “would lead to a lot of confusion”.
O’Sullivan said that the government would not be accepting Cowen’s bill.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I bet basically the same bill will be back before the dail in a few months put forward by a government TD
I’d love to see a punch up in there.
It’s my only hope.
“Among the responsibilities of the teams would be revamping the current system of commercial rates, changes to parking charges, greater flexibility on building use, changes to planning laws to encourage town centre development, and abolition of upward only rent review.”
Eh is all of this not what local authorities and councils are supposed to be doing anyway? Why would there need to be ‘special teams’ set up to do this?
What’s needed is people living in town centres. Most have little or no permanent residents. I grew up on the main st on my local village. I remember one derelict building on the street back then but plenty of vibrant little businesses (bakery, 3 shops, 4 pubs, hairdresser, laundrette, butcher and barber
Today, out of roughly 40 buildings there are:
No children living on the street!
No residents under the age of 70!
3 active businesses (supermarket, pub and barber)!
I am in my 30s so this hasn’t taken 50 years to happen.
Rural Ireland is dying as a ridiculous pace!!!
don’t worry nialis, the way this government is going there will soon be plenty of children ‘living on the streets’.
Town centres are dying. In part thanks to parking charges, rates, increase in traffic – but also changes in the way we shop/live. We now shop in large supermarkets outside of the village – that’s not going to change (though the rates they pay should). Town centres in the main are boring places with badly stocked shops – and they need to change to survive.
Why would their be a crisis in Irish towns if the Government is doing a good job?
Let us not let a good idea get in the way of politics
Oh look a good idea from the opposition. We had better bin it cannot have them coming up with ideas….
That must be part of the ‘new-politics’ we’ve heard a lot of talk about?
The real issues are depressed consumer demand, increases in commercial rates and the cumulative effect of austerity measures.
You can energise a town centre all you like but most people re spending the very little that they have in New York discount centres and Liffey Valley etc. Or in Newry.
No money at little money equals reduced spend and focus on spending in cheaper locations.
Spending the little they have in New York? Such striking poverty.
Politics yet again coming before the people.Without proposals like this coming forward how do we expect to get out of this situation?the central government can’t do everything our country is too centralised.
So the best idea is to create new quangos to do the job??
The problem of course is the ‘big box’ retail and development sprawl that took place throughout the Celtic Tiger FF permitted this under the guise that ‘all/any development is good development’ regardless of where it is mantra. It is a bit rich for them to be introducing such a Bill given the fact that their policies caused it.
Unfortunately this is now ‘locked-in’ and there is little solution. Without anchor tenants such as convenience super markets town centres are dead. Unfortunately we are still building these big boxes because we need the jobs etc
Headline probably needs an amendment – no indication that a debate on the bill took place.
An interesting idea that merited exploration I would have thought. Let’s bear this in mind when the local elections come round.
Hi Paul,
The bill was debated in the Dáil this morning.
Hugh
Mea Culpa Hugh,
I mistook “declined to accept” with “declined to debate”
Apologies.
Retail parks were the demise of town centres and these being built on the outskirts of towns was down to local development plans.
Our towns and villages are weak due largely to a dispersed spatial strategy which our government has pursued. This has led to the dependence on the motor cars and rise of convenient out-of-town centres. This Bill will make no difference unless our spatial planning strategies become stricter and even at that, I think it is too late to change this trend, given the trends in globalisation are much stronger. We’ve missed the boat.
have your say