Councillors' fears for rural towns and villages

A warning that the policy of encouraging people to live in Athlone or Mullingar is having a negative impact on rural towns and villages was sounded by Cllr Denis Leonard at the March meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad.

"There seems to be this national plan – which I will resist with every bone in my body – to move everyone into about 20 or 30 urban centres around the country and to let the rest fall into dereliction. And I for one will never ever subscribe to that policy," he told colleagues.

"I think it’s totally 100% against climate change because the irony is you’re taking all the services, moving them into maybe two towns in a county of maybe 90,000 people and then people have to get in their cars – with the high fuel prices – and travel there to get to a doctor or to a school.

"Shops and services that should be available locally are moving out because they become unsustainable because the population drops."

The Labour councillor suggested that the local authority look to encourage use of vacant properties, unused sites and undeveloped zoned land in rural towns and village to support rural schools, shops, and services so to keep them viable and sustainable into the future.

"What I’m proposing is that unused sites, vacant properties – particularly on main streets – that every single one of those opportunities is researched, whether it has to go through a CPO, or whether it has to go via the route of encouragement, or whether we need a levy to be looked at again for vacant sites," Cllr Leonard said, adding that the council should also examine all the rural houses that are completely empty.

Otherwise, he said, these smaller communities and farming communities will become unsustainable.

"What I’m asking here is that we would look at every opportunity we have as a planning authority to encourage, not make rural planning so difficult – but make it user friendly so people can continue as farmers to live in the local area, continue as local industries, artisan food [producers].

"Local rural industries need to be supported by having local people in that area that can be supported so you don’t have to get in your car or your bike and travel miles for something that should be available down the road. So I’m asking for a shift in our planning policy here and that this district should be looking to make sure that the maximum amount of people that are possible to live in a rural area to sustain that school, that shop, that service, be supported."

By way of response, the executive referred to the document ‘Town Centre First – A Policy Approach for Irish Towns’, launched in February 2022, which they described as "the government’s overarching strategy for the renewal and regeneration of Irish towns", before going on to state that Westmeath County Council supports a strategic and co-ordinated approach to the regeneration of Ireland’s town centres.

"This includes a particular focus on measures to tackle vacancy and dereliction, to create more vibrant and viable places, through greater occupancy for residential purposes and to encourage more business and footfall."

The response stated that this will be a cross-department approach within the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, led initially by the Regeneration Project Team, with the development of a Town Centre First Plan in Moate, followed by other towns as funding becomes available.

There was much support for Cllr Leonard’s view.

Cllr Frank McDermott said he supported the motion "vigorously", as he believed it was important to have facilities and amenities near residents so they could walk to them if they wished.

Cllr Paddy Hill said it was something about which he had been preaching for the last 40 years.

"The run-down of rural Ireland is something that started a long, long time ago," he said.

As referenced also by Cllr Leonard, Cllr Hill quoted from an interview carried in the Westmeath Examiner with Matt Melvin, principal of St Etchen’s National School, who expressed a concern that a lot of the rural schools would not be able to exist in the future because of the decline in rural population.

He stated that Finea, Castletown, Ballycomoyle are all suffering.

"How we address it I’m not too sure," he admitted, adding that because he foresaw a lot of difficulty in acquiring many of the properties that are vacant as it is often the case that title cannot be established.

"I have been a strong advocate of planning in rural areas," he continued, explaining that it was his view that if someone was born and reared in an area, they should be able to get planning permission there.

"If we don’t allow people to live in rural areas, then we are going to lose everything."

Cllr Hill said he has reached a stage where he almost finds it difficult to talk about: "I’ve talked about it for so long, and nobody seems to be listening. I don’t know who will," he said.

Cllr Hazel Smyth agreed: "I do think that we should be trying to prioritise our towns and villages effectively and trying to make them viable places," she said.

Cllr Smyth remarked that there are more than 90,000 properties in Ireland that are currently vacant: "We should be trying to hold on and breathe life back into our towns and our villages," she said.

David Jones, director of services, reminded members that as well as the Towns First policy, the council is also operating under the ‘Our Rural Future’ code devised by government.

"It is quite broad ranging, but as a result of that, there has been numerous funding mechanisms put out there to support communities, whether it be in terms of sports, recreation, community enhancement initiatives, and… general regeneration projects."