New car park to close on Saturday afternoons

The Headfort Place car park in Kells, which opened to the public recently, is to close on Saturday afternoons at 3pm to facilitate weekend Massgoers at the adjacent St Colmcille's Church. Councillors have been told that the town council has accepted the land is owned by the Church and it was agreed that the Church would have priority when the council entered into an agreement with the local clergy to develop the facility. Kells Town Clerk Jarlath Flanagan said that parking was being run in co-operation with the Church authorities. He said the agreement had been that the car park could be closed on a Saturday at 2pm, but the Church had put up a sign indicating that it would close at 3pm. This is to ensure that parking is available for weekend Mass-goers. The car park would be open to the public again on Sundays. He said there had also been concerns that cars might park in front of the main gate of St Colmcille's and people wouldn't be able to get and out of the church. Cllr Frankie Lynch said that it would cause inconvenicence to people parking there on a Saturday morning. The new facility, which was developed by the council, provides 25 short-term parking spaces for the town. It allows for two-hour parking at 90c per hour and includes two additional disabled parking bays. While most of the work is finished, the installation of two-tone public lighting has yet to be completed. The work included the redesign of the existing car parking area, resurfacing with tarmacadam, granite sets, granite flags, limestone pavers and the erection of limestone bollards. The existing Headfort monument, which is a protected structure, has been relocated to a new position in front of town hall civic offices building across the street. The work involved landscaping, including tree-planting and the provision of street furniture such as seating and litter bins. Kells Town Council and the Catholic Church entered into a licence agreement for the the development and the parking regulations for the area, which is now subject to short-term parking. Meanwhile, the town council is now planning to continue improvements up into John Street and is in the process of engaging consultants to put together a more specific plan for this street. The water main on the road has to be replaced and, when that is completed next summer, the council will be in a position to apply for funding to carry out the improvements to John Street.