WITH 15 acres of derelict sites in the Carey’s Road/Hyde Road/Lord Edward Street and Parnell Street districts, Limerick City Council has, in a first step towards modernisation, been urged to reopen negotiations with Iarnrod Eireann in relation to the upgrading of Colbert Station. Says Cllr Joe Leddin: “We have land to the right and left of it, and this would tie in with a study in relation to the area, which is currently underway, as is a review of an economic and spatial strategy for the wider Limerick city.
“This study, being conducted by the Limerick Reorganisation Implementation Group, will advise on recommended uses for key city and county council owned sites”.
He is concerned that the landbanks, which include the former Guinness depot, boarded up flats on Hyde Road, a former petrol station on Parnell Street, vacant plots in Lord Edward Street and at the lower end of Carey’s Road- are the first impression that visitors are confronted with,
“In all, some 15 acres owned by the council are available for a redevelopment of the area, which, given its proximity to a number of the city’s leading cultural and environment amenities, would have the potential to transform it into a prime location.
“This is a hugely strategic site, which we should be proactive in creating – we should start by demolishing the boarded up flats that are an eyesore and clearing the site”.
The Limerick Post has learned that City Hall is examining the Hyde Road flats in the context of the future use of the wider land holding in the general locality that it owns.
The future use of the site and the scope of an action plan is to be presented to a full council meeting, and valuations have been obtained on council land at Sarsfield Park- between the Model School and Sarsfield Barracks- and the Office of Public Works building on Lord Edward Street.
In City Hall this week, it was confirmed that options for disposal of the sites are by direct sale or land swap for economic value.
Welcoming the development as “very positive for this significant city area,” Cllr Leddin anticipates that when the options are fully reviewed by the council, the issue can be finalised within a matter of weeks.
