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KERRY County Council has submitted the project proposal ‘Positioning Tralee as a Regional Economic Driver and Destination Town’ to the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF).
The Council’s long-term vision for Tralee is to enhance its position as a driver of county and regional prosperity through a regeneration programme that creates a quality, vibrant and attractive urban centre, a university and ‘Destination Town’ that is competitive nationally and internationally in attracting investment, talent, enterprise and visitors.
The URDF submission seeks to regenerate Tralee as a regional economic driver through boosting the supply of high-quality employment spaces, residential opportunities and the development of an excellent quality environment, by means of strategic investment in office development, public realm improvements, leisure and amenity areas.
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The Council’s proposal “recognises the need to strengthen the town’s sense of place and identity through the enhancement of the town centre by the development of a well-connected network of streets and spaces of high quality for all users, through the animation of its heritage and the development of strong linkages to the surrounding coastal landscape.”
This vision is supported by the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) for the Southern Region through the primary objective for Tralee: “To sustainably strengthen the role of Tralee as a self- sustaining regional economic driver, a key settlement in the Kerry Hub Knowledge Triangle and on the Atlantic Economic Corridor and build on inherent strengths as an administrative capital, centre of skills and education, innovation, enterprise growth, culture and tourism accessible to regional airport, port, rail and strategic road network assets.”
KERRY County Council can throw or throw away all the funding (tax payers money)they like at the town centre.
However, the town centre is littered with the previous failing of the planners of KERRY County Council for everyone to see or in the case of the town square to slip on when it rains and it rains a lot in the West of Ireland 😉
In fairness, in the last couple of years there has been positive change in the town. Reversing previous disasters for the town centre.
However, there is still a long road ahead to made Tralee town centre great again.
If Caherciveen could convert an excellent colonial building to a local history museum, its feasible that the Courthouse would also make an excellent National Museum of Social History.
As it was appropriate to change the street name at this location, consideration could be given to changing the Courthouse and the publicly owned area at the rear to expand the building and seek a meaningful government response of €5 million. It is investment at this level is required to give a shot in the arm to a receding tourism industry. Towns all over Ireland are trying to relocate courtrooms away from the centre of their towns. Justice can be served in less austere buildings perhaps a half mile or so distant. As with other National Museums admission would be free and employees would be full fledged public servants.