ATTEMPTS to expand Letterkenny town centre too quickly have had the counter-effect of contributing to its decline.
The revelation is one of several contained within a report which paints an unflattering picture of parts of the town as being in “significant and sustained decline”.
The ‘Letterkenny 2040’ regeneration plan is due to be officially launched next month and will “re-imagine” the town centre as a “vibrant, competitive and attractive place in which to live, work and invest”.
Ahead of its launch Donegal County Council has issued a call to consultants to help prepare the regeneration strategy, including a rebranding of the town’s main street and surrounding thoroughfares. Letterkenny 2040 has ten objectives, among them to plan for a vibrant, liveable town centre and to lay the foundations for a greater proportion of residential and commercial development to be realised.
But contained within the tender document is a grim summing up of the current state of the town.
The report talks of urban decline, dereliction and social disadvantage. It also points to the development of what it describes as “low quality residential development” in and around the town centre. Particularly challenging for those tasked with bringing Letterkenny 2040 to fruition will be the Lower Main Street area. Among the issues highlighted are:
- Proliferation of vacancy and dereliction
Deterioration of the physical environment
A low quality physical environment particularly in established residential developments
Limitations of the diversity of existing uses
Lack of access to green infrastructure
The report also points to a number of factors it says are to blame for the diminished level of retail activity and increased vacancy rates. These include a deficiency in planning policy and a lack of joined up thinking in terms of planning, development and infrastructural investment.
The document also suggests that a desire to expand Letterkenny town centre too quickly has in fact had the opposite impact.
“The urban and place-based challenges in Letterkenny are long standing and arise as a result of a combination of factors such as political and social expectation and desire to grow rapidly.”
Improving links between the town centre and recently established retail parks is a must, according to the tender report.
Other external challenges to take their toll have been currency fluctuations, Brexit and the rise of online retail.
“As a result the urban core of Letterkenny is under-performing in terms of public space, accessibility on foot and bicycle, character and sense of place, public realm, public safety, streetscape. It is also deficient of measures to support viable urban public transport networks,” the document reads.
Letterkenny 2040 is designed to address the shortcomings highlighted. Particular emphasis will be placed on linking the traditional town centre with the more recently constructed retail parks.
The report’s authors say that the potential of the physical and environmental landscape in Letterkenny’s urban core remains untapped and that it still has much to offer businessowners, shoppers and visitors.
“This project will contribute to maximising the town’s physical and environmental assets by visualising and communicating the regeneration potential of them and integrating their use back in to the wider town centre environment.”
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