Updated: Wednesday, 10th February, 2010 4:52pm

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Unhappy traders accuse council of 'ruining' character of traditional street

The street refurbishment works underway at Watergate Street in Navan.

The €1.3 million refurbishment project which has started at Watergate Street and Market Square in Navan will "ruin" the character of the street and the money would have been better spent in the flood-hit areas of the south and west, a local businessman said this week.

Jeweller Ronan Walsh said it was "an absolute disgrace" to spend this amount of money on a street which was a traditional street "and did not need to be turned into some kind of glorified American mall". He claimed he was echoing the sentiments of a number of local businesspeople who felt that the refurbishment constituted a threat to their businesses in the long term.

"This job simply did not need to be done," Mr Walsh said, "I would have preferred to see this money going to businesspeople and householders who were very badly hit by the recent floods. I think we have our priorities all wrong."

He accused town council officials of refusing to meet traders or to take on board their suggestions. "The traders looked for a meeting but there was no response, we were totally ignored. Anybody who sent in submissions had them ignored. We haven't had a proper sketch or design to show us what the finished project will look like. We were shown an Ordnance Survey map with a few markings on it but nothing else," he added.

Mr Walsh also raised questions over the paving being used in the project. "We have hard that similar paving to that used at Kennedy Road, and which is dangerous in wet or frosty weather, was chosen but that has had to be changed," he went on.

His mother, Mary, said that when she had arrived in Navan more than 40 years ago, Watergate Street "was a lovely, old, unspoiled traditional street". She could not understand why the council needed to make such drastic changes. "If the footpaths or road needed upgrading, I could understand that but what they are doing will change the street forever. Some people in Watergate Street wonder if they will have a business at the end of all this," she said.

Cllr Jim Holloway said he could understand the feelings expressed by some of the businesspeople on the street. He had had some misgivings about the nature of the project for some time himself, however he said that now the work was underway, little could be done about making major changes to it.

"I share the concerns expressed about bringing drastic change to an old traditional street. I don't think it is too late to do something about the overall finish of the project," said Cllr Holloway.