'Conceptual' design for Market Square on the way
This was committed to by Kildare County Council at a workshop held in Kilcullen Town Hall on Thursday.
Director of Services Joe Boland said the design will be a 'recognisable conceptual plan' which can be used for a 'knowledgable discussion' of the possibilities for the Market Square area.
He said there was a lot of information in what the project committee had already worked on, and commented that it was 'usually consultants' who would have brought it to this stage.
Earlier the meeting had been told by Antoinette Buckley that the committee needed help to 'get to the next stage' of the project.
And Deputy Martin Heydon emphasised the urgency of moving on with the designs, as the next round of funding from the Town & Village Renewal Scheme required applications to be in during May.
"You need to have a plan ready for this year," Deputy Heydon said, adding that this was the third year of the Scheme and a number of other communities in the area had already drawn down significant funding for their own projects.
Present at the workshop in addition to the Market Square Committee were officials of Kildare County Council with expertise in Roads, Urban Planning, Parks, and Engineering.
Urban designer James Hennessy, who is a consultant to the Council on a number of projects, complimented the project committee on 'phenomenal' work to date.
A wide-ranging discussion during the workshop emphasised the need to balance commercial activity with heritage, culture, and quality of life for residents, in the implementation of plans for the square.
We'll post more detail stories from the workshop over the coming week.
