Limerick council considers compensating business owners on pedestrianised streets

A feasibility study could be conducted to see whether a rates reduction or other compensation is appropriate for business owners on pedestrianised streets

An aerial view of Limerick City. Picture: Denis Scannell

Limerick businesses located on streets considered for pedestrianisation could be compensated under plans discussed at a council meeting this Monday.

Members of Limerick City and County Council (LCCC) heard a proposal from Green Party councillor Saša Novak Uí Chonchúir, who called for a feasibility study to look at developing a programme of rates reduction and/or other financial compensation for traders who would be affected by the move.

She said that city-centre retail has been challenged by changing shopping patterns for decades. She said that in the past, the challenge was out-of-town shopping centres, whereas more recently, the main problem has been the rise in online shopping.

“But the city centre is not only a place for shopping, you need it to be an attractive to visit and an attractive for people living there,” she said.

She used the examples of Little Catherine St and Bedford Row, and compared them with two of Limerick’s busiest thoroughfares, O’Connell St and Henry St, with Ms Novak claiming that the latter two are “very unattractive to live in or visit”. 

Ms Novak Uí Chonchúir said she was inspired by plans implemented in the Netherlands in the 70s. She said that research from around the world has shown that retailers overestimate the importance of car access to their customers.

She also noted that Limerick retailers, traditionally, have resisted measures that would see pedestrianisation introduced, and car access restricted.

“While we can try to sell the story of milk and honey to the retailers that are on streets that we'd like to see pedestrianised — we're not going to succeed if we don't make it easier for them to transition to a new system,” said Ms Novak.

Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary said that he believed this move would require an adjustment on the Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV) in order to reduce rates, which would be a “substantial amount of work”. 

Director of economic development and enterprise with LCCC, Vincent Murray, said that in his experience, the short-term pain that businesses feel while streets are being pedestrianised is “far outweighed by the long-term gain that the businesses get afterwards”. 

However, Mr Murray said that putting a budget together to compensate businesses would have to be funded from somewhere, and questioned where that money might come from.

He recommended that LCCC does not go down this road of compensating businesses, and instead let the market take care of itself.

Responding to concerns raised, Ms Novak said that she understood it would be a complex issue, which would need to be “teased out”. 

She added that this program would be useful in “getting businesses onboard”.

Fine Gael councillor Olivia O’Sullivan finished off by asking Ms Novak Uí Chonchúir if it would be possible to invite a speaker from the Netherlands who was involved in the process back in the 70s to give a presentation to the council. 

Ms Novak agreed she would explore that option.