Bandon think-in on town overhaul

With the streets of a West Cork town to be dug up for a €7m main drainage scheme, the Heritage Council is hosting a think-tank to see how it can be re-developed once the works are completed.

Experts in the fields of architecture, planning, traffic, parking, roads, heritage, retail and tourism marketing will be offering advice and sharing their experience with locals in the hope of drawing up a blueprint for Bandon town in the aftermath of the main drainage works.

The five mentors at Bandon’s ‘Solving Our Own Problems’ sessions tomorrow and Saturday will be architect at tourist hotspot Westport, Simon Wall; Fáilte Ireland’s Josephine O’Driscoll; head of conservation at the Heritage Council, Ian Doyle; University College Cork planning lecturer, Will Brady; Cork county council architect, Giulia Vallon; and Edmund O’Callaghan from Dublin Institute of Technology’s retail department.

Local activist and flooding campaigner, Maria McLaughlin said the mentors “will be taking a critical look at the town from different perspectives with the aim of generating ideas of how to deal with problems identified”.

“This is a great opportunity for Bandon at this critical time facing a lengthy dig-up for the main drainage and sewage scheme and a chance to influence how the town is put back together and to have a network of communication to minimise the disruption,” she said.

Last year Carrick on Suir in Co Tipperary hosted the first ‘Solving Our Own Problems’ seminar and according to Ms McLaughlin it led to better co-operation between the private, community and public sectors.