Ireland's Ancient East needs to deliver today!

On Thursday 25^th June I was kindly invited, by Minister Paudie Coffey TD, to attend a workshop on the tourism project called Ireland’s Ancient East, which was chaired by Minister Pascal Donohoe TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

So many holiday choices.

It was great to note that Minister Donohoe spent the whole day in Waterford City and County seeing at firsthand our tourism offering and also I am sure that he took the opportunity to meet and greet many businesses involved in his ministerial portfolio.

We met in the Granville Hotel with industry representatives and members of the Council Executive.

As we are all aware Ireland’s Ancient East project was muted quite some time ago (possible as long ago as two years) and is in every single way the response to the highly successful Wild Atlantic Way project launched a number of years ago. The Wild Atlantic Way is literally pulling hundreds of thousands of tourists to the West and the unfortunate consequence of this is that less and less International tourists are coming to the Waterford and the South East. The Wild Atlantic Way has been a massively successful project and there can be absolutely no doubt that the strength of this new west coast brand will be nearly impossible to compete with and therefore we are yet again playing catch up to the rest of Ireland Inc.

Ireland's Ancient East.

The simple truth is that Waterford and the South East get the smallest amount of International tourist and more alarmingly we get a very insignificant amount of the available overseas tourism spend. And it is this very small percentage of spend that we should all be very concerned about. It is Tourism Ireland that promotes all things Irish in terms of this Emerald Isle as a destination. They really are only concerned with visiting numbers and the reality is that it makes no difference if 7 million tourists come to just one place as long as that place is in Ireland somewhere. So as a destination attractor Ireland’s Ancient East will have to be very special indeed if we are to get an ever increasing larger slice of the International tourism pie.

Despite all the efforts over the last number of years Waterford is still seen as a “very quick visit” for International tourists and as a results many spend literally a couple of hours, and a couple of Euro, in Waterford Crystal and the Viking Triangle and then hop back on to a tour bus and then it is off to Kilkenny or off down to the West of Ireland.

This of course is not what we want and the Ireland’s Ancient East project has to go an awful long way go to remedy this leakage of tourists and their much needed injection of Euro into our local economy. We are almost back to the same old scenario when our tourist numbers visited Kilbarry, bypassing the City altogether, and stayed two hours then it was off down the Cork Road and into the West.

The Wild Atlantic Way.

The fact the politicians from within Fine Gael cannot agree on whether Waterford should have its own tourism offering as part of Ireland’s Ancient East or be part of the wider Wild Atlantic Way does give cause for concern when you consider just how far behind we are in terms of our offering. On the day the Minister Donohoe was in Waterford his party colleague, Mr Deasy TD, was on WLR FM calling for Waterford Council to once again push for inclusion in the Wild Atlantic way. I personally believe that we have to have our own unique offering and from my very limited knowledge of all things Wild and Atlantic I do not believe we are in fact on the Atlantic at all, and we are on the Celtic Sea (I think) and as such we need our own unique selling point as part of a wider tourism offering! 

Interesting to note that Cork is hedging its bets and is on both maps of the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland's Ancient East - you have got to hand it to them!

Minister Donohoe stated that he wished to see 600,000 additional tourists come to the South East by 2020, but that timescale is of course far too late or Waterford City and the wider South East region and this was pointed out to the Minister during the workshop. Quite simply need those 600,000 additional tourist now and next year and not 4 or 5 years away. Like our retail sector we need to see increased numbers coming immediately to the City and County, and all manner of hills and mountains need to be moved to achieve this. I often wonder if it is only me that can see the need for urgency and rapid implementation of projects that will bring financial security to the City and I do wonder if other see the City and County through a pair of optically challenge set of rose tinted glasses.

I pointed out to the Minister that communicating the messaging of the project is key and vital to its success, and that all front-line responders needed to be aware of the project and its objectives so that tourist would benefit from the correct information. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, unless the appropriate senior civil servants and their departments get behind the project it is doomed to be moving along at a snail’s pace when we require the implementation speed of a Peregrine falcon!

When you consider that most tour operators are already selling 18 to 24 months ahead we are realistically taking about 2017 at the very earliest before we can even look at persuading these tour operators to come and consider Ireland’s Ancient East. And we will then have try to persuade these operators to leave their traditional markets and bear in mind that these existing markets will be fighting tooth and nail to keep their existing supply chain and that tourism income. It really will be an monumental uphill struggle.

The success of Ireland’s Ancient East project will ultimately be down to buy-in from all sectors concerned within the tourism industry and history tells us, which we never seems to learn from, that for such a project to work we need to see real on-the-ground-work being down and figuratively speaking we need to see people prepared to “wear out their shoe leather”.

Failure to get the industry informed and get the industry enthused will deliver nothing. It is all very well communicating this message internally and within Government Departments but getting the message out to a wider stakeholder group is a whole different proposition.

And we can see similar mistakes with the opportunities around the Purple Flag in Waterford, where there has been a communication void in terms of message reinforcement. Yes, we need better stakeholder buy-in but the whole message dissemination around the Purple Flag in Waterford leaves one wondering if it could not have been done better.

Alchemists workshop.

So, the Ireland’s Ancient East project has the potential to deliver, but only if Minister Donohoe is prepared to rattle a few cages, stand on a few toes and move the year 2020 to 2017.

Though I am not sure alchemy is in his portfolio!

Quay to success lies in our City Centre!

North Quays artist impression.

I read with interest last week’s blanket coverage around the purchase of the North Quays by Waterford Council or the fact it has now been stated that the Council will take control of the North Quays – two completely different scenarios. What this actually means for the City and County will no doubt come out over time and as they say the devil is always in the detail.

Of course the development of this prime real estate has to be warmly welcomed and yet we are already reading proposal from various sources that this option and that option would be the best for the City. But what surely matters is that this area of the City’s infrastructure is developed rapidly and must also be developed in such a way as not to stop the critical and much needed development of the actual City Centre – the very heart of Waterford.

There were many attention-grabbing reports last week including, what I think was a ridiculous suggestion, that DIT should get involved in this process. Now where is the sense in that when we have our own WIT is screaming for University status and yet we have a Councillor wanting to involve a Dublin third level institute in what has to be a jealously safeguarded Waterford City project! The mind boggles sometimes.

Bustling market in the City Centre.

The North Quays could and should be one of the most attractive areas of the City and has to be developed for the benefit of the City, the County and the South East and it has to be selfishly developed in this order of priority.

It would also be worthwhile finally tackling the issue of Ferrybank and the complicated legacy of should this area be part of the City or part of Kilkenny. I would hope that there will be an announcement around this topic, in the near future, and again I would hope that the decision will be made for the betterment of the City, County and South East.

Developing the North Quays will of course bring the north side of the river back into the heart of the City if developed sympathetically and correctly. And as I have said this can only be good for the future of Waterford City.

But what of the very heart of Waterford City, its City Centre, which has in many people’s eyes been neglected from development for many, many years?

Can we justify spending or investing more money in the development of the North Quays without first of all redeveloping our City Centre?

We now know that the development of the Viking Triangle (VK) which has been welcomed but has the VK area driven the much promised footfall back into the heart of our City Centre? Have we seen the promised connectivity between the VK and retail core of the City? And have we educated tourists to stopping in the City for more than a few hours to ultimately staying a few nights in our City hotels and accommodation providers?

These questions must be answered before we rush to develop the North Quays. We have been quite rightly told for years that out of City development will not be permitted as this will destroy the very heart of our City Centre and yet we have failed to see equal investment support for the City Centre when compared to areas such as the VK and now perhaps the North Quay.

Blackfriars.

We cannot keep going on ignoring the fact that the City Centre needs investment, the City Centre needs to incentivise new retailers and the City Centre needs to have lower commercial rates to encourage retail and service industry investment. These plans have to be implemented otherwise we will see yet another area of the City be developed to the detriment of the City Centre. At a time when we need to be concentrating on creating the most attractive City Centre in Ireland and creating an experience that is uniquely Waterford focused will we be distracted by this exciting new project that has now appeared on the horizon?

There is limited funding available for every type of development and the simple fact is that we cannot be sidetracked and surely our priority now has to the City Centre’s development.

Without a vibrant City Centre we will not attract investment, we will not attract tourists, and we will not attract the people of Waterford into our City. The vivacity of the City Centre cannot be underestimated and when I walk in to the City at the start of the week or in the evenings and see just how quiet it is it begs the question “Have we collectively forgotten about developing OUR City Centre?”

The black fountain/obelisk does not work, the “car wash” on Broad Street has never worked, we have crocked lighting pillars in George’s Street, Blackfriars is very uninviting and so on and so on.

Purple Flag for Waterford City.

We have literally spent thousands of Euro investing in the Purple Flag initiative and thankfully this achieved an accredited award. However, the flag is flying rather limply now and this is in part due to a lack of external communication outside of the stakeholder group. Now is the time to bring home ALL our birds to roost and play to our strengths and deliver a City Centre worthy of this Purple Flag award. If we do not invest now in the City Centre we will very quickly come to the stage where we have deliberately created our own City Centre doughnut with an empty centre and lots of exciting opportunities around the periphery.

This course of action will over time once and for all “kill” our City Centre and there will be no recovery from such a doomsday scenario. If we are not careful and if we as citizens do not have our say then it may well be too late for all of us to see the genuine regeneration of the Waterford City Centre.

Waterford City South Quay at night.

In a time when there is so much pressure of inter-web shopping we must create a shopping experience like no other and we must give the very best service to every single customer that comes to Waterford. Until we are prepared to go that extra mile how can we expect others to travel ten of hundreds of miles to visit our historic City?

OUR City Centre has been crying out for urgent investment for a number of years and the money must be found to ensure the City Centre at the very least keeps pace with the VK and any proposed North Quays development.

Do we take the very innovative step of claiming back the South Quays as well and once and for all introduce affordable car parking to drive footfall back into the City Centre. This of course would be too easy and too simplistic – or would it?

Finally, we must all remember that without a healthy heart no one can survive!

Time to paint the City Purple!

This weekend will be the official launch of the Purple Flag accreditation for Waterford City. But before I go on to write about the importance of this promotional project I must comment on the return of flights from Waterford City to, in particular, London Luton.

As you read this article we will have already seen dozens of flights take off and land between Waterford City and London Luton. It is great news to see VLM commit to the reinstatement of flights between Waterford City and London Luton. Luton is around 30 minutes from London St.Pancras International (which incidentally was the station used for the Harry Potter films) and it is then just a short tube ride from the very heart of London City. The timetable is now even more user friendly as you can depart Waterford City at 07:30 and return on the evening flight from Luton at 18:40. This of course does mean that you can pop over to London for a quick business meeting and be home at a reasonable time that evening. In addition we must also take into account that the airport is literally on our doorstep and the travel time back home from the airport is inevitably under 1 hour and that sort of convenience is worth its weight in gold after a long day.

We must also remember that it was only last December, at the final City Council meeting of 2014, that it was announced that the flights operated by BMI would cease in 2015 and for the staff of the airport to turn this negative around to this week’s huge positive news takes an awful lot of time, work and effort. So we must show our support for Waterford Airport and book our flights whenever possible out from Waterford Airport.

Is it the right time to paint the City Purple! Well the answer is of course a big fat YES.

As a Purple Flag designated City we can open a world of possibilities to create a City that will be appealing to new customers base and a whole new audience. Like the Blue Flag Beach accreditation the Purple Flag award for Cities and Towns will deliver certain standards for cleanliness, street lighting, safety, communication, nightlife, and so on. This a truly a collaborative effort that has been coordinated through the City Centre Management Group (CCMG) and supported by the Council, Waterford Business Group, the Garda, City Businesses and a wide range of stakeholders. It is a real chance to once and for all make the City Centre a vibrant destination once again.

And yes there are still issues around the retail mix, concerns around safety, the uniformity of late night opening hours, the cost of car parking...but this Purple Flag is a starting point from where we can ALL drive the City forward with a positive message. We need to talk up the City’s offering in order to attract new retailers, attract a greater variety of late night offerings, encourage a late night cafe culture (as we see across the whole of Europe) and above all we need to get our citizens back into the City Centre to start loving our City once again.

The brand that is Waterford City needs to regenerate itself and everyone must become that Brand Ambassador the City so badly needs. We all have our part to play and we all need to accentuate the positives rather than the negatives. And if you feel that there are issues, come up with a solution and do not just come forward with a complaint that can be posted anonymously across the ever widening range of social media channels. If you can contribute in a positive way then do just that.

The importance of the Purple Flag launch cannot be over emphasised and every business within the Purple Flag designated zone must do their bit to get the message out to their customers and the citizen of Waterford.

Yet getting this message out seems to have had varying degrees of success. I know that the Waterford Business Group have held an information evening and the Council did likewise yet the level of awareness is much less than it should be from a business point of view. How can you expect members of the public to be aware of the messaging if the businesses delivering that message are not clear themselves?

Clarity of communication messaging is something many business and organisation overlook or simply get wrong time and time again. When dealing with a stakeholder group the clarity of messaging becomes even more important and just because the people involved in a project are clear of the messaging it does not follow that everyone else “gets the messaging!”

I was very conscious at the start of this week that many of the businesses in the very heart of the Purple Flag area were not aware of the launch, were not aware of the messaging, were not aware of how they were to promote the launch weekend etc etc. It was clear that Purple Flag businesses have been visited but to what extent was there a conversation taking place with the business to enthuse them to get involved. I am yet to be convinced that enough time was spent delivering this messaging!

To remedy the lack of engagement the Waterford Business Group have taken it upon themselves to get out and “pound the street of the City Centre” and deliver some very striking purple belly posters to all the City Centre businesses asking them to give a Purple Flag offering for the launch weekend. You should be able to see A3 purple posters displayed in many shop windows this weekend promoting a Purple Flag offer or just recognising that the Purple Flag launch is taking place.

The communicating of messaging by getting bodies on the ground is without doubt the most effective way and is often the only way of delivering clarity of messaging. To see the human face of a promotion will undoubtedly get more buy-in and will also make the launch of the Purple Flag more personal.

 

So well done to Fly VLM and the Waterford Business Group for delivering more good news for the City, the County and the wider South East region.

Now we just need YOU, the people of Waterford, to support the launch, so make a deliberate effort to come into the City Centre this weekend and seek out the Purple Flag offerings. 

The wearing of Purple is of course optional.

Keep the cash here & just watch us grow!

Just who has their finger on the pulse?

This week IBEC predicated extremely strong economy growth for Ireland Inc over the course of 2015 and figures that are well ahead of Government and EU estimates. In fact IBEC are predicting a growth in the Irish economy of 5.4% and they are also indicating that by the end of 2015 unemployment will be fall below 9%.

These are really some very strong headline figures, if they are in fact to be delivered, and if IBEC are able to predict with such accuracy we have to ask why then that ISME’s are less confident about an Ireland Inc recovery.

A recent survey by ISME’s to its own membership resulted in a press statement that business confidence is actually waning and that SME’s are increasingly pessimistic about the economy. The ISME survey polled some circa 930 businesses and stated that there was “a reduction in 11 of the 12 indicators used to gauge confidence among small and medium-sized enterprises” (source Irish Times.com 10^th April 2015). According to the study, business confidence fell by 50 per cent to 39 per cent in the quarter under review while expectations were down 65 per cent to 57 per cent. The declines come after steady increases over the past 12 months.

In addition to the above business bodies both stating their case we also have Government stating that recovery is also well on the way and that they are also targeting reductions in unemployment and strong growth in the domestic economy.

With everyone saying one thing and another just who are we to believe and just how do these predictions and forecasts actually affect Waterford and the South East region?

Ireland Inc is currently witnessing a three tier recovery with Dublin way out in front and heading the Championship Table, followed in close second by the south west/Cork/Limerick/Galway, and propping up the table we find the North West region and the South East region. There have been various Action Plans for Jobs and various recovery plans tabled and printed over the last three to four years but to date we are still to see and witness accelerated growth in the very regions that need most of the help on offer.

Unfortunately, we will continue to see an unbalanced approach to any recovery because you need to have real heavyweight political clout in order to fight the investment case for both FDI and domestic growth. To complicate matters Government and the political system are now on election footing and gearing up for a general election this time next year. You only have to look across the Irish Sea to see the political manoeuvrings currently going with manifestos promising this and manifestos promising that. All would seem rosy when elections are just around the corner but reality bites when we look at just how much ground the South East has to make up.

There is no doubt that there is some business confidence across the South East and yet we know that many businesses are having to find and secure business outside the South East region as the rate of economic growth here is slower than the rest of the country.

That in itself is not a bad thing and encouraging businesses to chase and secure contracts in non-traditional geographical areas is in general good for a business as they are spreading their risk. However, we do need to see stimulus packages in place to make doing business closer to home the real game breaker for everyone. This will help keep the cost of being in business low and will help to keep local incomes be spent locally and keep local commercial business rates and taxes coming in to the purses of local councils, to be once again spent locally. We do need to create a culture of generating money locally to be spent locally.

So which business organisations are we to believe when it comes to predicting the strength and recovery across Ireland Inc and in particular the South East?

We have to judge our own local economy’s recovery on a few key facts that our unemployment rate is still circa 3 to 4 percent above the national average (which of course is unacceptable no matter what spin is put on this figure), our youth unemployment is also considerably higher than the national average, third level educational attainment is lower than the national average and our disposable income per household is much lower than the national average! These few stark statements show that we need South East solutions to a South East regional problem of a much weaker recovery than the rest of Ireland Inc.

But what can be done?

The simplest and easiest way to start any local recovery is a commitment to shop local and on the ground the Waterford Business Group have always championed this approach and this commitment. We can see from the recent public relations that this Group have even engaged with Waterford ex-pats to push the “keep it local message”.

In fact the group have gone much further than that in recent weeks and months. The Waterford Business Group have been instrumental in the award of the Purple Flag accreditation, are an integral part of the City Centre Management Group, have recently provided free customer care courses to some 60 plus staff of Waterford Businesses, are about to pilot a scheme with Waterford Library Services and are doing so much more than they will ever be credited for. Yet because this highly organised and driven Group are not seen as a “pillar organisation” like IBEC, ISME, Chambers etc they perhaps will never get the credit for the volume of voluntary work they do on behalf of Waterford’s many businesses and the people of Waterford.

To sum up there is an organisation with its finger on the pulse in terms of where Waterford and the South East are in terms of an economic recovery, they work with the vast majority of businesses across the City and they making a significant difference to the City, County and region.

So the next time you want a commentary on just where our recovery is across the South East is just ask the right people, in the right organisation, that are doing far more for the jersey than can ever be put into print.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw.

Purple Flag will restore some balance to City spend.

As a wee boy growing up in Glenrothes, in central Scotland, our family lived on an estate that was designed as part of a number “New Towns” built to house the overspill of the redevelopment of Glasgow’s infamous tenements.

These new town planners had designed self sufficient housing estates that contained the entire infrastructure needed for modern family living in 1960’s Scotland. This included compact modern housing, a “village green” type grassed play space, secure garage lockups for your modern car, local shops, primary schools, a post office, lots of open space and one of my most enduring memory’s was a state of the art playground with new shiny brightly painted playground equipment that was in my mind the best in the world.

The playground that serviced Cromarty Court was on the way to my school, Rimbleton Primary, and was the most wonderful of places to start an adventure from. Included in this playground was one huge monolithic slide (or "shoot" as we called this in Scotland) that was in my eyes simply the highest structure I would ever have to climb, a series of three swings, the essential (yet lethal) brightly painted steel and wooden roundabout, but the most impressive of all these items was the yellow and blue seesaw that sat at the very heart of the playground. This to me was the best of the best of all the things to play on and partly due to the fact that a fall from the top of the shoot one sunny day put me off this once favourite play structure.

One of my many memories of playing on the seesaw was of course seeing just how many of your friends you could get standing on this balance beam on what would today be seen as a health and safety on no. Unfortunately, the once common seesaw has been replaced by those wobbly and springy ducks, hens and elephant contraptions that break ALL your teeth or give you children whiplash.

One abiding memory that will stick with me forever would be when one of my, shall I saw heavier playmates, would sit at one end of the seesaw and I would be left dangling one hundred feet in the air helplessly bumping up and down on the seat to try and bring my end of the seesaw back down to terra firma. On the odd occasion, when I would be feeling brave, I would push myself over the brightly painted safety handle and edge inch by inch towards the central pivot point and through the powers of some mystic magic seesaw fairy I would somehow make myself heavier thus levelling out the weight distribution and bringing the seesaw back down to ground. I would later learn in Physics classes, at Bell Baxter secondary school, that at five years old I was in fact implementing one of Newton’s many laws, which to this day I still do not understand and so I will be sticking to my fairy theory.

It was this memory that sprung to mind in early December when I was in the City Centre and several businesses from the George’s Street, Gladstone Street and O’Connell Street area of the City stopped me and asked why there were no additional Christmas lights etc in these areas when compared to Christmas of 2013. I believed that the reason is due to the fact that the ice rink this year had been moved and was set up further down The Quay, towards Rice Bridge, and that this meant there was no additional emphasis on the entrance to Winterval up and through Gladstone Street and along George’s Street. In 2013 there was a greater importance stressed on bringing footfall through the City Centre by directing people up Gladstone Street and along George’s Street and thus in 2013 there were significantly more lights, a number of craft cabins, some food stalls, better signage and even a gigantic blow-up snowman or bear or something on The Quay showing you the way through Winterval.

This year there was very little in the way of Christmas decorations in these areas and many traders and businesses were feeling that they had been forgotten in 2014.

Some traders and businesses had even said to me that there was a clear inconsistency in terms of investment in this area of the City when compared to other areas of the City and this of course has led to many metaphors coming my way.

But the one that seemed to be coming to the fore was the idea of an unbalanced seesaw where one side of the seesaw had seen significant and continued monetary investment at the cost of the other side. Thus there will always be one area of the City looking better than the other and for a City the size of Waterford this is extremely noticeable and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Clearly, there has to be a rebalancing of the seesaw and this cannot be the sole responsibility of the traders and businesses that have chosen to invest, work and trade in this once bustling area of our City. Over the last few weeks we have seen and heard of numerous entrepreneurs investing in property in this part of the City to start that renaissance process. But this would be made much easier if it was felt that there was at the very least some parity in terms of future investment. If we are truly to drive the City forward then we need to encourage more investors into the City and this will be made much easier if the current set of entrepreneurs feel that the seesaw can be balanced.

The proposed Purple Flag for Waterford City will incorporate this area of the City Centre and in fact extend right the way down The Quay towards Rice Bridge. If we are to be successful in marketing the City as a future Purple Flag destination then we need to see an accelerated investment outside of the Viking Triangle area. There are a significant number of commercial rate payers across the City Centre that wish to see not only an increased investment but fairness in terms of balancing that investment. An investment that is ultimately partly paid for in the commercial rates contributions made on an annual basis by the businesses and traders across the whole City Centre.

Through the wonders of Google maps I have discovered that my playground still has the slide and three swings, but sadly the roundabout and my seesaw have been removed – no doubt removed by the mad health and safety world we live in today.

Here’s hoping the optimism continues in 2015.

In Scotland we would celebrate Hogmanay or the last day of the year, and thus we would be celebrating the passing of the Old Year rather than the tradition of our Auld Enemy south of the border who celebrate the coming of the New Year.

All across Scotland there would be regional variations to Hogmanay including places like Stonehaven that would have a parade of flaming fireballs down the main street, Dundee would have the traditional first-footer (or first visitor) bringing into the house not the usual gift of coal but a fancy herring, in Falkland there would be a torchlight procession up the Lomond Hills (an extinct volcano), St.Andrews would have a tradition of specially baked cakes but in reality we Scots are of course known for one huge party on the 31^st December that may continue for two or even three days into the month of January.

The formula for a traditional BIG party on Hogmanay has now been exported around the globe and Edinburgh led the way many, many years ago and this winning formula has now morphed into a celebration that lasts several days, starting pre-Christmas and finishing in early January. Our celebrations would also guarantee many a sore head and the serious threat of one biblical hangover for hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults. But as I have grown older and wiser the ability to balance alcoholic intake in smaller measures has now come to me and the years of celebrating Hogmanay with such gusto are now few and far between. The tradition still carries on in the Garland household that we celebrate the passing of the Old Year and we remember the good and try to forget the bad on 31^st December of each year.

Away from the commercialisation of Hogmanay many families will sit down with friends and neighbours and recall the best and worst of the past year. And the worst of the year will be made all the more palatable with the supping of a good Scottish malt, the singing of Auld Lang Syne (crossing arms only during the last verse) and of course the obligatory countdown, with BBC One Scotland on the television, to signal the passing of the Old Year and the beginning of the New Year.

2014 has been a hugely busy year for the Waterford Business Group (WBG) whom I am immensely proud to say I am a founding member of. The main committee is made up of 5 females and 7 males, which gives the committee a unique dynamic unlike any other group I have been involved in, and believe you me I have been involved in a staggering amount of committees and groups.

Founded in March 2013 and formalised with a full constitution in January 2014 the WBG has achieved an astonishing amount in not even 24 months in existence. The achievements are made all the more remarkable considering that the Group is entire voluntary, is membership based, and receives no funding from any other sources bar membership income and through fundraising.

The committee members are giving their time and energy for FREE for the betterment of the City, County and the people of Waterford and yet we and many other voluntary groups still hear firsthand the negativity and pessimism towards our work, and through the wonders of social media we continually read from keyboard warriors of how it could and should be done better. Perhaps these keyboard warriors’ New Year resolution would be to get involved – only a suggestion!

To get back to celebrating the passing of the Old Year I have highlighted below some of the WBG achievements for 2014. This is by no means an extensive list and has been created in no particular order, as ALL of our achievements no matter how big or small, are important to us. So here are some of the Waterford Business Groups 2014 highlights:

• Lobbying the previous Minister of Environment for commercial rates support to allow the balancing of the City, County and Dungarvan Annual Rate on Valuation in the 2014 and 2015 budgets. 2015 will see no commercial rates increases for businesses.
• Lobbying Government for additional grant funding to allow capital works such as the painting of Michael and John’s Street buildings to be carried out.
• Integral part of the City Centre Management Group and are one of the most active stakeholders on said Group.
• Working with new and potential City Centre investors to ensure that they invest in Waterford City.
• Creation of a new Waterford Business Group website specifically developed for members and businesses to use – www.waterfordbusinessgroup.com
• Creation of Waterford Street Ambassadors who support the Group’s activities, act as a contact point for local businesses and can be the “eyes and ears” for businesses in the City.
• Creation of the Waterford Retail Watch Scheme. A closed texting service that circulates information and descriptions about potential shoplifters, know criminals etc. The scheme has netted some excellent results in 2014.
• City In Bloom initiative that saw the City blooming with flowers throughout the Summer of 2014. This project will be extended in 2015 and beyond.
• Shop Local Saturday supported by the WLR FM outside broadcast unit and supported by a Live Local, Love Local, Shop Local campaign.
• Summer In the City musical festival with Waterford City Council and ArtBeat.
• Purple Flag initiative stakeholder and one of the most active stakeholders working on this project for the City along with City Council, Chamber and Garda.
• Guerrilla Gardening project along The Quays and throughout Ferrybank.
• Founders of the Waterford Shopping Voucher along with the Chamber. This local shopping voucher scheme has the potential to keep literally thousands of Euro circulating in the local economy.
• Support for many local projects including the New Street Gardens, Winterval and many others.
• Liaising with local Garda to keep our Waterford City safe.

The WBG have done so much in the past year and we would hope that come the end of 2015 we will have an even bigger list of achievements to publish.

On a final note I do hope that we can all march through 2015 with renewed optimism and a sense of pride in our City knowing that there are individuals that are willingly giving their own free time to make Waterford the best place in Ireland to live, work and play.

Our collective efforts will bring real rewards and remember that there is strength in unity and strength in numbers. So support local when and where you can as you know deep down it makes sense.

I hope that 2015 brings everyone health and happiness.

ENDS

Michael Garland, founder of bizBoost