Public realm projects for picturesque Shannonside villages

Cllr Sean McGowan stated Leitrim's “picturesque villages” are very important for locals and visitors alike and asked what plans are there for public realm projects in these villages.
He was speaking at the latest Carrick-on-Shannon district meeting last Monday.
He said he believed “works of this nature would be very important to locations like Dromod, Drumsna, Rooskey and Jamestown, given their tourism potential as Shannonside villages.”
Cllr McGowan said Leitrim Village could also be included in this list as it's along the Shannon-Erne Waterway.
A report by the Economic Development section said that Leitrim County Council have focused on the larger towns for the public realm improvement works to date and will continue to seek to deliver for the remaining larger towns in the short term.
However, the council “fully appreciate the value that public realm improvements can also make to our smaller villages especially those with tourism footfall and will consider the bundling together of a number of Shannonside villages in order to produce a project of suitable ambition and scale for RRDF funding in the medium term.”
Cllr McGowan continued, “When villages look attractive they attract investment and you could see small retail units opening up; coffee shops, etc. All the Shannonside villages are tourist villages and ensuring they look attractive would encourage businesses to come in.”
Cathaoirleach Cllr Enda Stenson said he felt it was important to push for further funding for “the upgrade of our villages” and that “everyone sits down with the residents in these villages for what is best for those villages.”
Cllr Des Guckian opposed the motion saying it was “too wide of a motion to be passed by us now” saying it will inhibit councillors and residents holding “proper debates on what is the best development appropriate to their area” and would give “excessive powers” to council officials.
He continued that the companies that “were employed to draw up the town plans were from Dublin and know nothing about the real needs of our towns and their residents.”
Regarding Mohill town, he claimed that many residents “were very critical of the planned taking away of streetside parking.”
The motion was also supported by Cllr Thomas Mulligan who said that villages along the Shannon “would lend themselves well towards those schemes because they have that extra bit of width in the streets and are suited to public realm works.”