Kilkenny comes out on top at Tidy Town Awards

The hard work, commitment and dedication of the volunteers behind Keep Kilkenny Beautiful paid off as the Marble City was named the 2023 recipient of the County Award, a gold medal and the South-East regional award.

In the adjudicator's report Keep Kilkenny Beautiful were commended for their hard work throughout the year.

"It was a pleasure to visit Kilkenny as an adjudicator this year. The size and structure of the Keep Kilkenny Beautiful team of committee members, volunteers and network of supporting organisations is a testimony to the ongoing engagement of the committee over the past 41 years. Your use of experienced members, new recruits and school groups should make continuing good work possible in future years," he said.

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The judges also praised the city's streetscape but raised concerns over the level of traffic which they said need to be addressed.

"The streets of the city centre are a pleasure to walk through, around each corner there is something new to discover and plenty of spaces to stop and rest. A negative aspect of the street environments is the levels of traffic in the city. This is an ongoing urban issue but needs to be addressed. Traffic levels in the city centre are a distraction, create noise and are possibly causing issues with air quality. The proposal for High Street, pedestrianised with cycle lanes is welcome, this type of street scape should be extended through as much of the city centre as possible."

Butler Gallery was lauded as 'a highlight' in the judge's report with 'work on nature and sustainability projects on display'.

The adjudicator also remarked that the Medieval Mile Museum and the Medieval Mile Walk is an ideal way to explore the city's history and see first-hand how much of your heritage continues to be a resource for the people of Kilkenny.

Kilkenny received 274 point a rise of 12 points on their 2022 results.

The team at Keep Kilkenny Beautiful congratulated Ballincollig in Co Cork who pipped Kilkenny by one point to win the national tidiest large urban centre 2023 and to Abbeyleix the 2023 overall winner 2023.

Meanwhile around the county Inistioge was named County Second and Gold Medal and Tullahought were announced as County 3rd and Silver Medal.

Listerlin was named as the winner of the Leave No Trace award.