Traders not happy with plans for town square

PROPOSALS for a €3 million revamp of Dungarvan’s historic central landmark, Grattan Square, have encountered an unexpectedly hostile reaction from business interests and may well force the Town Council’s architects to rethink their overall plans for the area.

Up to 300 people are employed in the 50 businesses located in the square but a spokesman for them has warned that if the “unexciting’ plans presently on the table for its upgrade are proceeded with many of these 300 jobs will be seriously at risk.

Within days of the plans being discussed at a meeting of council officials and business interests, Grattan Square traders have criticised proposals they say are as disappointing as they are basic.

They are particularly angered by a proposal that would reduce the existing 119 car parking spaces to 29, and say the revamped square would effectively herald the end of “user friendly” parking, with an inevitable negative impact on business.

“The current parking capacity generates a turnover of 1,500 cars per day, with all of the business that creates, and I would be seriously concerned for trade in the area if there is a virtual elimination of car parking,” one businessman said.

The Grattan Square businesspeople accept the square needs to be enhanced. However, they say the plans should create a “balanced environment” which would make the revamp a success for everyone.

However Dungarvan Chamber of Commerce president and Fianna Fáil town councillor, Ann Marie Rossiter, said the plans presently on the table from the architects are not set in stone and are only at the consultation stage.

“I would accept that the current proposals from the architects represent a very big change for a lot of businesses that have been a part of Grattan Square for many generations,” she said.

She said that the businesses people in Grattan Square can rest assured that there will be many more opportunities for consultation.