New parking arrangements approved for Tippeary Town, Cashel and Cahir

A claim that councillors were ‘boxed’ into the way they voted to approve new parking arrangements was made at a meeting of the Tipperary Town, Cahir and Cashel Municipal District.

The new parking arrangements for the three towns were approved at a meeting of the authority but after the arrangements were proposed and seconded, Cllr Michael Anglim intervened to make the claim.

“We are clapping ourselves on the back too soon. There were other suggestions that were turned down. We were boxed into a situation of having to vote the way we voted. The proof will be in the pudding in 12 months time,” Cllr Anglim told officials and colleagues at the conclusion of the discussion on the new parking arrangements.

Members approved the new arrangements, which will be reviewed in 12 months' time, bringing a conclusion to an exhaustive process. Members said there had been gains and losses made in the process as a balance had to be made to gain back revenue where free parking elements were introduced.

The town centre free parking element introduced was backed by members as an ‘open for business’ message in support of local business.

The new arrangements will come into effect on March 1st.

The final workshop in that protracted process took place on Tuesday morning prior to the annual monthly meeting of the authority.

That workshop, held in private with no members of the media allowed to attend, ran over by almost an hour.

During the public meeting that took place afterwards, the Tipperary County Council Parking Harmonisation item on the agenda had to be deferred to the end of the meeting to allow spreadsheets and maps to be finalised that outlined the new arrangements for each street in the three towns.

The headline changes in Tipperary town will see one hour on-street free parking introduced in the town centre for the first time.

Where free parking existed at the Post Office (80 spaces) and James Street (20 spaces) in Tipperary Town, there will now be an all-day charge of €3.10. There was free parking up to now at the swimming pool but there will now be a charge; however, it will remain free for swimming pool users. The Bank Place car park remains free under the new system.

In Cahir, the two hours of free parking in The Square and the town centre will now become one hour free parking. The new car park opposite the Post Office will be free for the first twenty minutes and will have an all-day parking charge of €3.10. Under the new parking arrangements, the Cahir Castle car park will have a maximum stay of four hours, as previously it was an all-day car park. From March 1st the first twenty minutes are free.

In Cashel there will be no one-hour free on-street car parking in the town centre but parking for the first twenty minutes will be free for the first time. Car parks behind the library and at the Kiln have been retained as free car parks.There will be a two hour maximum stay on the Friar Street car park, which had been an all day car park,to encourage turnover of cars in the town centre.

In Cashel a new workers permit for parking will be provided in March giving a special rate to people working in the town.

Cllr Mairin McGrath said there had been a lot of ‘over and back’ during all of the discussions held about the new parking arrangements. Concerning Cahir, she said ratepayers would be happy to have one hour of free parking in the town centre and said if problems arose, the arrangements were being reviewed in a year's time.

Cllr Annemarie Ryan said all of the councillors in Tipperary Town worked together on the issue.

She said a balance had to be struck in terms of putting charges on car parks that were historically free because free parking was introduced elsewhere to ensure there was no loss of revenue.

Cllr Ryan said she was happy that there would be a review of the new arrangements after a year of operation.

Cllr John Crosse said a lot of the heavy lifting on the parking issues had been done prior to the meeting. The officials wanted harmonisation and what was best for the towns.

“It is important for the public to be aware that this is for one year. I would like the public to give it a go. It is an opportunity to give town centres a boost, especially in Tipperary Town,” said Cllr Crosse.

Cllr John O’Heney thanked the officials for getting through what he described as a mountain of work.He said members had engaged with the public and the business community in the three towns and did it for the benefit of the people living in the three towns.It was very important that a review was set for 12 months on from when the new arrangements are introduced next March.

Cllr Declan Burgess said that each of the three towns were different and each town had to strike a balance. He welcomed a move to accommodate workers in Cashel by creating a workers' permit for parking.

Cllr Burgess said that workers in Cashel needed affordable parking and said carrying out the review in twelve months following its introduction was very important.