LIMERICK City and County Council chief executive Conn Murray has been urged to consider the appointment of a designated director with overall responsibility for the implementation of the capital projects listed in the Limerick 2030 plan.
Speaking at last week’s Economic and Planning Strategic Policy Committee meeting, Cllr Joe Leddin pointed out that the elected members approved the drawdown of €32m in loans to facilitate the development of key sites identified in the 2030 plan such as the Opera Centre, Hanging Gardens and Mungret College lands.
“There is without question a growing level of frustration amongst the wider public, business community and elected members that to date no physical construction is underway not withstanding the complexity of each individual contract and procurement process,” the Labour councillor told the council executive.
“The departure recently of senior staff throughout the organisation but particularly within the Planning Department is cause for real concern that further delays are inevitable in the delivery of these key infrastructural developments.
Appointments at directorate level have been made for other policy areas such as the Councils bid for European City of Culture however the most important strategy and vision document namely Limerick 2030 remains without a director.
The elected members have facilitated in every possible way the fast tracking of sites such as the Opera Centre and Hanging Gardens through the establishment of ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ and further delays in the delivery of these sites simply cannot be tolerated,” Cllr Leddin concluded.
In response, a spokeswoman for the local authority explained that the Director of Economic Development and Planning is responsible for the delivery of Limerick 2030.
“There has been great progress made since Limerick 2030 was launched in 2013 with the strategic sites now moving towards delivery. A new company has been set up to deliver these projects and will be launched shortly,” she added.
by Alan Jacques
