Town Centre First team warn initiative could be ‘on its last legs’ unless action is taken

The Town Centre First ‘town team’ in Enfield is seeking a meeting with Meath County Council's Chief Executive and Director of Services, with Cllr Ronan Moore warning that the team could be on its last legs if a “meaningful” meeting does not take place.

Enfield was one of 26 towns identified nationally to be awarded funding of €100,000 to develop a Town Centre First Plan aimed at tackling dereliction and revitatilising town centres.

There was extensive public consultation carried out by consultants Paul Hogarth and Company to canvas local people’s views on how Enfield could be improved upon and a Town Centre First plan was prepared identifying several projects to achieve the aims of the plan. At all stage there was very positive engagement and buy-in to the process from the local community.

A key part of the Town Centre First programme was the formation of a ‘town team’ to include a wide variety of representatives from local groups, businesses, stakeholders and public representatives.

It first met in June 2023, however, in recent times the lack of back-up funding to progress projects identified in the plan has led to a sense of frustration and disappointment locally. At the January meeting of Trim MD, Cllr Ronan Moore spoke about a sense of “fatigue, dissatisfaction and anger” with it all.

Frustration has been expressed at the lack of funding forthcoming to implement projects identified as part of the Town Centre First Plan, despite huge buy-in during the public consultation process.

At the February MD meeting, Cllr Moore, who sits on the town team along with Cllr Padraig Coffey said an email was to be sent to the council from the secretary of the town team requesting a meeting with Chief Executive Kieran Kehoe, Director of Services, Dara McGowan and Des Foley and also Regeneration Officer Pat Shore.

“They are keen to have a discussion about where things are at and where they are going. At the moment, it could be argued that it is on its last legs, if it is not a meaningful meeting. I think a sense of pessimism has set in. There has been such engagement to date, it would be sad if it fell away,” said Cllr Moore.

Apart from the ongoing project to refurbish the former St Patrick's Hall to provide a community centre, and the enterprise hub and library building, which were both in train before the town centre process started, there has been very little delivered on foot of Enfield's Town Centre First Plan.

Parking in the town centre and in estates in the vicinity continues to be a problem with no easy solution in sight.