Community revamp ‘bypasses residents’

RESIDENTS of one of Limerick’s oldest communities have accused Limerick City Council of keeping them in the dark with regards to a massive regeneration programme for their area.

And they have been supported by Defence Minister Willie O’Dea and TDs Michael Noonan and Kieran O’Donnell in their demand for more consultation and more information on the plan for St Mary’s Park.

Architects Murray O’Laoire and consultants Erinaceous drew up the project aimed at capitalising on the location overlooking the Shannon.

It is intended to complete the €100 million project within three years.

An open letter to Limerick city manager Tom Mackey was signed by 10 groups involved in community, education and sport in the St Mary’s Park area, including politicians yesterday. It stated while the community is fully supportive of the plan, the consultation process has bypassed them.

The letter states: “Regeneration is a positive and refreshing approach to the problems in St Mary’s Park and in the wider community. We want to stress that we do not wish to place any unreasonable obstacles in the way of the project’s success.”

However, it continued: “The process has not given adequate feedback to the community. The reporting of the project has not been managed well, leading to ill-informed rumours and speculation.”

“We urge the city manager to give a clear message to the whole community that such fears are groundless. There is a need for new people to come to the area and the community welcomes all new arrivals,”

Cllr John Gilligan said the plan was long on aspiration and short on detail.

He said: “They are talking about boulevards and waterways, but people want to know where they will be rehoused. Already we have been told that a €1.4m crèche, on which construction was due to commence, cannot go ahead now because it is not in the masterplan. It seems they want to move all residents in the 460 houses out before work on the regeneration commences. Residents are concerned that they might never get back if they move out. Surely it would be possible to build one block of houses and then knock existing ones allowing people to move house without leaving the area.”