TRALEE has been chosen as one of ten ‘pilot’ towns in the National Town Centre Health Check (TCHC) Training Programme.

The Heritage Council of Ireland and RGDATA are developing this training programme, a key aim of which is to raise awareness, understanding and appreciation of the critical role that historic town centres play and the wide-ranging impacts that their vitality, vibrancy and viability have on overall socio-economic, environmental and cultural growth and development, and on quality of life for citizens and visitors alike.

The other towns involved are Ballina, Cashel, Ennis, Dundalk, Monaghan, Naas, Rush, Sligo and Tullamore.

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‘Town Centre Health Check’ surveys of Tralee’s Historic Town Centre, to be conducted by IT Tralee students, are taking place during October and November 2016. These will include:

• Land Use surveys to establish the overall vacancy rates in the town.

• Footfall surveys to establish actual town centre visitor numbers.

• Shoppers surveys to rate visitor experience and satisfaction.

• Retailer surveys to establish current levels of commercial activity and outlook.

Other surveys to be carried out by Kerry County Council include:

• Vehicle counts,

• Mapping of car parking patterns,

• Accessibility audits

Environmental quality and crime figures will also be incorporated into the study. All the above work will be supported by existing studies carried out by Tralee Chamber Alliance and Kerry County Council.

This collaborative training programme will develop an innovative town centre-led commercial, cultural heritage and tourism baseline, which will be driven forward by all the project partners.

It is envisaged that this ‘pilot’ training programme will be recognised internationally as a best practice collaborative model for town centre management and revitalisation.

TCHC pilot programme training has already been completed by representatives from Tralee Chamber Alliance (Kieran Rutleddge CEO), the Institute of Technology Tralee (Martha Farrell, Lecturer, School of Business, Computing and Humanaties) and Kerry County Council (Noreen O’Mahony Economic / Tourism Officer and TJ Mahony, County Heritage Officer).

On-going professional / academic mentoring will be provided for the duration of the project from professional practitioners and academics who are experienced in town centre revitalisation, urban design, and planning, heritage and environmental management in Ireland and elsewhere.

Key aims of the TCHC training programme are to:

• Raise awareness of the crucial role that good planning and design, quality public realm plays in creating a safe historic core (and streetscape) with a unique ‘sense of place’, which in turn attracts visitors and tourists to a town centre – i.e. the public realm is the ‘main stage’ of an historic town;

• To train local public, retail, business and voluntary representatives on how to undertake an annual Town Centre Health Check – identifying and using key performance indicators.

• Once the training is completed, mentoring and support will be provided for local partnerships in towns to work together to carry out a Town Centre Health Check and devise and implement an agreed Town Centre Management Strategy to enhance vitality, vibrancy and viability’.

• Establish an All-island Town Centre Management Network

• Establish a National Town Centre Management Policy Research Programme.

Town Centre Health Checks (TCHCs) are commonly undertaken in many EU countries on an annual basis, for example through the Association of Town and City Management in the UK (including Northern Ireland).

IT Tralee project supervisor, Martha Farrell, said ‘we are delighted to participate in this project and we have no doubt that the student project teams involved, on the Bachelor of Arts in Information Systems Management and Bachelor of Business in Marketing programmes will benefit from an invaluable learning exercise. It really is an excellent opportunity for our students to hone their research skills while contributing to something that will make a difference to everyone who uses the town centre in Tralee’.

“The Town Centre Health Check is a great initiative and one that Tralee Chamber Alliance is happy to support,” said Kieran Ruttledge, CEO of Tralee Chamber Alliance. “The more information that we can generate the better we will be able to plan for the future of Tralee. We can also learn a lot from the nine other chosen towns and see how they have addressed problems and found solutions. All the various agencies working together for the benefit of the town is definitely the best way forward and we are very hopeful that we will make progress through this project,” said Mr Ruttledge.

“Given their key socio-economic, environment and cultural role, it is important that collaborative and practical tools are developed to ensure that Kerry’s town centres are enhanced as sustainable and viable places, with the ability to attract investment, which can contribute to economic growth, attract people to live, work, develop businesses and visit, and contribute to the flourishing of civic pride and overall quality of life” said TJ Mahony, County Heritage Officer.

The Tralee Pilot will be formally launched at The Business and Information Technology Building, North Campus, Tralee IT on Friday, October 14, at 1:30pm.