Carrick-on-Suir traders oppose plan to more than halve Main Street parking spaces

A number of shop owners fear plans to more than halve the number of parking spaces on Carrick-on-Suir’s Main Street under the town's proposed regeneration scheme will seriously harm their businesses and the vibrancy of the town centre.
They have objected to the radical plan to cut the number of Main Street parking spaces from 56 to 26 proposed in Carrick-on-Suir Regeneration Scheme’s Part 8 planning application.
Carrick Municipal District’s councillors are due to decide on the planning application at their monthly meeting on October 28.
One of the regeneration scheme’s goals is to make Carrick-on-Suir town centre more pedestrian and cycling friendly and ultimately more attractive to shoppers and tourists.
A new streetscape layout for Main Street is proposed in the planning application to achieve this. It comprises a “new alignment design for footpaths and trafficked areas incorporating new paving, kerbing, hard and soft landscaping and street furniture”. It’s proposed to accompany this with the “alteration of on-street parking for Main Street and other streets”.
John Hogan, proprietor of Kehoe’s Craft Butchers at the Westgate end of Main Street, is among the traders worried that cutting 30 parking spaces from the street will reduce the “footfall” of shoppers rather than increase them.
He stresses he is not opposed to the overall regeneration scheme and the major investment it will bring to the town just the huge reduction in parking spaces. He has lodged a submission to the planning application highlighting his objections .
Mr Hogan says his shop depends on customers being able to park outside his premises for a few minutes to buy meat and carry their bags the short distance back to the car. The parking spaces outside his shop are particularly important for elderly customers and those with poor mobility.
Mr Hogan disagrees with the council’s contention that there is sufficient car parking spaces in the town car parks five minutes walk away from Main Street “The reality is that people are not going to walk to Main Street from New Street or William Street Car Parks on a wet day,” he says.
He fears the parking proposals for Main Street will ultimately “play into the hands” of bigger supermarket retailers and lure away shoppers to their outlets with ample free parking.
“We don't need a landscaped Main Street. It should be for business and employment with a variety of shops for the town’s people. They are making it harder for people supporting small businesses to park and keep us going providing employment and paying rates. That is the bottom line.”
Jim Butler, who runs Butler’s Electrical Store at the other end of the street agrees and has also lodged a submission on the planning application.
He says having parking spaces outside his premises is vital due to the weight and size of many of the electrical goods in his store.
“If you are buying a microwave or vacuum cleaner and there is no parking outside my shop what are you going to do?
“You are going to go elsewhere. People want convenience. If there is only a small amount of parking spaces on Main Street they are going to be taken up a lot.”
Cutting parking spaces will impact on elderly people the most and Mr Butler argues the elderly are the “backbone” of Carrick town centre’s shoppers as they don’t want to travel to Clonmel and Waterford.
Mr Butler is also concerned the reduction in parking spaces will make it much more difficult for lorries delivering electrical goods to park outside his store.
And he fears the plan to widen the footpaths will narrow the street’s carraigeway and make it more difficult for lorries, buses and tractors to travel down Main Street, increasing traffic congestion.
“They are trying to make the place like the boulevards on the continent but those towns have very good public transport while we don’t have public transport so people have to drive in and park. If they can’t do that they will go elsewhere,” he adds.
John Kelly, owner of Number 21 Off-Licence on Sean Kelly Square, has also objected to the regeneration scheme’s parking proposals for Main Street though he is generally in favour of the scheme.
Mr Kelly owns 12 off-licence stores throughout Munster and strongly believes in the importance of having convenient parking spaces available outside town centre shops. The busiest towns are those with good, convenient parking facillities, he maintains
Like Mr Hogan and Mr Butler, he doesn't believe shoppers will walk from the town’s car parks to Main Street especially in bad weather. Irish people are guilty of laziness and park as near as they can outside a shop, he points out.
“ If that options goes, they are going to choose a supermarket or shopping centre with everything under the one roof. Then all of a sudden the centre of town is destroyed,” he warns.
Mr Kelly believes the footpaths are wide enough on Main Street and the revamp of the street should be confined to upgrading its appearance while maintaining its car parking spaces.
Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District’s director of services Brian Beck says the council has sent the submissions it received in relation to the Main Street car parking proposals to the consultants who devised the Carrick-on-Suir Regeneration Scheme design plan. The council has requested the consultants to come back with options to address traders concerns about the removal of car parking spaces.
He argues the regeneration scheme plan for Main Street will encourage more people to come to the town centre and spend more time there shopping.
Mr Beck agrees the council needs to ensure traders on Main Street and elsewhere in the town are not in anyway damaged by this project.
But he points out that 302 people responded to a public consultation survey the council conducted before preparing the Regeneration Scheme Plan and 90% of respondents indicated they wanted significant change on Main Street and to make it more pedestrian friendly.
He also highlights how 58% of respondents wanted to walk into the town centre, while 20% wanted to cycle and 20% wanted to drive.
“Seventy-eight per cent said they don't want to gor around town in the car and are quite happy to walk or cycle around the town.
“I do appreciate we have to make sure the elderly population are adequately catered for but that can be done through management of spaces, disability parking and drop and collect spaces. These spaces can be identified through by-laws.”
Mr Beck also insists Main Street's carriageway will not be narrowed under the regeneration scheme revamp. Extending the width of the footpaths would not impact on the width of the street’s one way carriageway.
He points out road traffic engineers worked on the regeneration scheme design and demonstrated clearly that large buses, articulated trucks and tractors with trailers can drive through the street while vehicles are in loading bays.