Don’t Leave It All To The Loudmouths!

Loudmouth - we all know one or two.

The City’s Urban Renewal Plans are now available for everyone, and I mean everyone, to view and more importantly they are accessible for every one of us to comment on. The Council have literally opened their doors so that they can engage with the People of Waterford on the renewal of their own City. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It is such a landmark consultation process that I heard one senior Council official commented that “We are going to go to a lot of trouble to consult with the public”, so we have heard it from the proverbial horse’s mouth that we as Waterford citizens have been invited to play our part in the whole process.

From all the publicity reported by our excellent local newspapers and the snippets I have heard on WLR FM it appears on the surface that this is a genuine invitation to ALL Waterford citizens and it really is an opportunity not to be missed.

But actually how many of us will go that extra mile and make the effort to attend the briefing sessions, consult the Council website, engage with our local Councillors and just how many of us will submit a written report or written observation or express a reservation for that matter?

Too long in the tooth.

I may be too long in the tooth to really believe that there will actually be a full, frank and open public consultation process because in the real world this never ever, ever happens. The process of consultation is itself flawed and self-fulfilling as only the people with an interest in the project will actually come forward with their own views and opinions. It is almost certain that the majority of people and businesses who may be adversely affect by any proposed developments or street alterations will be the lone voices that speak up. The rest of us may take a passing interest but more often than not there will be an absolutely tiny percentage of the population that will submit their or their pier groups’ combined observations and concerns. 

Only those who can actually be bothered to get their arse in gear will in reality make an effort to engage in this process.

R. Lee Ermey.

This is course is NOT what we should be doing!!!!!

If Waterford City is to be redeveloped for the benefit of Waterford, its People and the better economic benefit of the South East we ALL need to start getting involved in the Urban Renewal Plans and I would recommend that people start that process NOW!

To be fair to our Metropolitan Councillors, at their last meeting, they to a man and a woman were very engaged in the process and debated very strongly with the Council Executive. Whilst, being told on the one hand that the Council did not really have to consult with anyone on plans that involved road changes or road alterations. They all expressed concern at the lack of information that was being feed to them and to a certain extent they were all very aware that information was “going public” without their knowledge.

This of course puts our Councillors in the unenviable position of possibly being asked questions about plans they know nothing about, which will make them look silly through no fault of their own. At the very least if the People of Waterford are being asked to connect with the process then our Councillors must be forearmed and forewarned with ALL the necessary information and they need to be brought up to speed through a series of in-house workshops. This I hope will happen as I have no doubt our Councillors will have an increased workload to facilitate this process.

The bottom line is that we the citizens of Waterford City need to make our voices heard and we all need to make a commitment to at the very least view the proposed plans so that we can be educated as to how any changes will alter the very foundations of our Medieval City.

As I see it we need to ask ourselves some very basic questions;

• Will these modern plans really fit the fabric of what is after all an ancient City with an ancient road network and an ancient foundation/layout?
• Are changes being made for the sake of making changes?
• Will the changes drive footfall up in the City Centre and therefore allow businesses to flourish and increase employment?
• Will the changes encourage the people of Waterford to come back into their City Centre?
• Should we develop the Michael Street Shopping Centre and its environs first and then reassess any future development plans?
• Is the additional traffic calming and the removal of a significant numbers of off-street parking spaces a solution to bringing more people into the City Centre?

It really does not matter if you agree with the above questions or not. The simple fact is that if you are concerned about the City’s future NOW is the time to voice your opinion.

Do not leave it to the people who shout the loudest as they a more often than not wrong!

Mayor's Walk proposition.

Waterford Council website details on Urban Renewal is as follows: www.waterfordcouncil.ie/en/Resident/Planning/Forward,Planning/Urban,Renewal/