Recreation theme in workshop an 'opportunity to grasp nettles'

The possibilities in Kilcullen for future development of recreation is one of the key themes in tomorrow's workshop session in the development of the Kilcullen Design Statement, writes Brian Byrne.

Organised by consultants and Kilcullen Community Action, the event in the Town Hall is the second round of public consultation on the initiative.

The facilities for sports and related activities in Kilcullen are way ahead of those in most comparable towns, but in the Recreation for All theme at the workshop, the organisers are hoping to establish what may be lacking in this area.

“The sports campus is amazing and a real strength to have," says James Hennessy of The Paul Hogarth Company. "But I think there is a thing about inclusion. That’s not just a Kilcullen issue, but Kilcullen has an opportunity here, and I think it would be interesting to get people’s take on that, to see if there are interventions which can be identified to improve access to the existing facilities, and also to provide facilities that we don’t have.”

An almost explosive growth in the number of teenagers in Kilcullen, a reflection of rapid population growth over the last two decades in the town, makes that last a real point for discussion. “There’s a very lazy kind of term, ‘anti-social behaviour’, which gets applied very often in the wrong places, where it is just young people wanting to congregate and socialise but not necessarily having the spaces to do so. With Kilcullen, let’s grasp some of these nettles and see if there are solutions.”

The other themes are Infrastructure and Linkages, Heritage and Natural Assets, and Future Proofing and Sustainability. All of which provides potential for a very busy Saturday morning, 12 February, in Kilcullen’s Town Hall. The workshop is a drop-in informal event, running from 10am-1pm. Everybody is welcome to go along and have their say.

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