LABOUR councillor Joe Leddin has expressed disappointment that little or no progress has been made to date in rejuvenating city centre laneways.
Speaking to the Limerick Post this week, Cllr Leddin highlighted the Council’s original plans to deliver on a project to rejuvenate and reimagine Limerick’s city centre laneways with full support from council members.
“Limerick City has an abundance of unique laneways linking and connecting various streets in the heart of our city. Some of the laneways currently offer a good setting for community, residential or business uses,” the City West representative opined.
“However, many laneways currently are simply used for bin storage or parking and are totally under-utilised in terms of their potential to enhance the attractiveness of our city. If they were designed better they could provide space to experience culture and art, outdoor dining, space for children to play, an area to exercise.
“In addition, these laneways could offer places for a quiet sanctuary from city life, they could be car-free routes, spaces to socialise, or places to experience nature.”
Cllr Leddin had a question on the agenda of last week’s Metropolitan District meeting asking for an update on the laneways community mapping project and timeframe for completion.
In response, the Council’s Director of Services Planning, Environment and Place-Making, Vincent Murray explained that the Limerick Laneways project is part of the Living Limerick City Centre Initiative which is funded under the Urban Renewal Development Fund.
“The Council appointed a design team led by Tobins Consulting Engineers, working alongside Allies and Morrison to develop a toolkit to give best practice guidance on the development of the laneways and to assist with a prioritisation of a capital programme,” Mr Murray told council members.
“The Consultants are currently finalising the Toolkit further to commentary from the Development Management & Place-Making Department of Limerick City and County Council, which includes developing concepts that can be implemented on the Laneways. Once issued, the elected members will be briefed on the Toolkit which we envisage taking place in the coming months. It is intended to commence a pilot lane project in 2024.”
Cllr Leddin wasn’t overly impressed with the confirmation of the appointment of a design team, considering, he said, that no preliminary designs or laneways have yet been identified or timeframes agreed.
“Having spent over €9 million on O’Connell Street this is a missed opportunity to reimagine our city centre laneways that once upgraded will offer further incentives for those living in the city, doing business in the city or visitors to our city.
“We have to be able to deliver these projects in a more coordinated manner within agreed timeframes or we risk losing out on potential funding,” he concluded.
