Council – ‘it may be necessary to adjust the streetscapes’

Attempts were made at the April meeting of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District by Cllr Andrew Duncan to nail down a commitment on the retention of car parking spaces in Mullingar, and to determine whether deliberate efforts have been made to deter motorists from coming in to Mullingar.

On the first issue, the district failed to give the commitment sought, and on the second query, did not give a direct answer.

The commitment on parking sought by Cllr Duncan was a guarantee that the district will retain a minimum of 95% of the existing car parking spaces in Mullingar. The official written response stated that “adequate car parking both on-street and off-street is important in supporting economic growth in Mullingar”.

It followed this statement with an undertaking that the district “will endeavour to preserve car-parking”, but cautioned that in order to deliver public enhancement “it may be necessary to adjust the streetscapes”.

Cllr Duncan’s other query arose as he asked the district where the funding for the Mullingar Town Enhancement Scheme had come from, to which the response was the European Regional Development Fund co-financed Designated Urban Centre Grants Scheme, administered by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly.

“Basically, during the design of the scheme, were the architects requested to design a scheme that would make it less attractive for drivers to come into the town?” Cllr Duncan asked. “My firm view is that they were,” he said, citing McDonald’s junction and Mount Street as areas where bottlenecks have been created.

“Designers know what they’re doing. And designers design at the behest of those who pay and those who are setting down the terms of reference, and I suspect that that’s what we asked for. And I’d like to know if that is what we asked for: are we trying to discourage drivers from entering the town?”

Referring back to the written response provided, director of services Deirdre Reilly said that response stood, but she assumed the purpose of the work was to improve facilities for all road users, including pedestrians, people with disabilities, mobility impaired; and to provide an improved public realm within Mullingar.

“Further than that, I don’t have any other comments,” she said.

Car parking

With regard to the car parking response, Cllr Duncan was disappointed and remarked that he feels there is an attempt to reduce car parking spaces year on year.

“With every type of work that we try and do, we tend to remove car parking spaces,” he said, adding that new residential developments seem to have few, if any, car parking spaces.

“Adjusting the streetscape should not reduce car parking spaces and for me, we must protect the small business of this town – they are the core of this town regardless of what pressures are coming from external forces,” he said, going on to express the fear that cutting car parking spaces will kill off a lot of small businesses.

Support came from Cllr Mick Dollard, who pointed out that much of the town development planned for the Canal Avenue area was coming at the expense of car parking spaces. He also asked what plan the county council has for the lands now surrounded by a wooden hoarding that it acquired at Blackhall for the ‘Central’ development which had not gone ahead.

He said an overall and holistic view of the town needs to be taken, and also, that they possibility of providing a multi-storey car park should be examined.

Also strongly in support was Cllr Ken Glynn, who formally seconded the motion: “The car parking spaces that we have in this town absolutely have to be protected. There’s absolutely no negotiation as far as I’m concerned in relation to that,” he said.

“The reality on the ground is, people have to travel,” he continued, stating that traffic coming to town needs parking spaces so drivers can support local businesses.

“As long as I’m in this chamber, I’ll support that,” he said.

Cllr Emily Wallace commented that she is in business in Mullingar, and 90 per cent of her customers do not come to her via public transport.

She said those with buggies or elderly parents needing to get to town have to use their cars and agreed with Cllr Dollard’s suggestion of a multi-storey car park, or car parks adjacent to the town to encourage more people to come to town.

Cllr Denis Leonard also fully supported the motion, saying it made no sense to be getting rid of parking spaces when the town has a growing elderly population, many families with small children, an increasing number of motorists with disabled stickers and still no bus service. He added that much of the town’s business comes from residents of rural areas not served by public transport.

“I think whatever progress we are going to make in the future, the car is here to stay – whether it’s powered by ammonia or hydrogen or whatever powers it. We will need private vehicles and we will need a place to park,” he said.

Support came also from Cllr Bill Collentine, whose view was that more car parking should, in fact, be provided, while Cllr Aoife Davitt argued that without a local area plan in place, it was unclear what is in the pipeline.

Th mayor, Cllr John Shaw, supported the retention of car parking spaces, but said he was of the view that it was likely there would be changes in the way people move around the town, and these were inevitable if people wanted the town to grow.

“The population of Mullingar is going to grow. We can’t keep churning the same amount of cars and more and more cars in through the town and move about the town the way we are,” he said, adding the car parks at Buckley’s and Blackhall needed to be expanded so people could come in, park there and then move about the town.

Director of services Deirdre Reilly agreed it is important to retain parking spaces, but said when a multi-storey car park for Blackhall was mooted in the past, the cost was estimated at €20m, and pointed out that they would not want to have to choose between providing a regional sports centre and a multi-storey car park.

Cllr Duncan said that he accepted what the director was saying, and part of the motive behind his motion was to see a conversation started on the issue: “My deep fear is that we’ll have another town enhancement scheme in a few years’ time, and I guarantee it: we’ll be looking at reduced car parking spaces. And we will be looking at a design that will be designed specifically to deter drivers from entering the town.”

Works required

At the same meeting, Cllr Duncan asked that the footpaths in Hillside Drive be resurfaced. The reply from the executive stated that resurfacing works have been carried out in Hillside Drive in previous years but that the area could be considered for future estimates. Cllr Duncan said there are sections badly in need of resurfacing: “And I’d love if they could be done this year if at all possible,” he said.