Council has no immediate plans to regenerate Park Street in Dundalk

Louth County Council has no plans at the moment for regeneration of Park Street in Dundalk, and will have to wait until an opportunity to seek funding for any works becomes available, members heard at the Dundalk Municipal District February meeting.

Cllr Maeve Yore raised the matter at the monthly meeting, which was held at the Kilcurry Resource Centre. Cllr Yore enquired about the possibility of seeking regeneration funding "so people coming into Dundalk from the Dublin side will get as good an impression as they're going to get coming into Dundalk from the northern side".

Cllr Yore commented that the street needed regeneration, asking also if something could be done with the former Dunnes Stores building on the street, that has been vacant for some time and which, she commented, has "been a thorn in all our sides for many years."

Cllr Sean Kelly supported Cllr Yore's comments, adding that he had raised a motion previously on Anne Street. Cllr Kelly was critical of the footpath on Anne Street, commenting that "there's actually cobble[stones] there that are completely overgrown."

Cllr Kelly commented on the signs on Anne Street that give information on the area's heritage, saying "you can't actually see the signs because they haven't been cleaned", adding, "it's great that we're doing all the work in one end of town, we can't forget the other end."

In response, Senior Executive Officer, Olivia McCormack, said that Park Street was "not on the list for regeneration at the moment but there is a whole list of projects that we put in place." Ms McCormack said that the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) have put out another call for funding but that it was not related purely to public realm and that that call would be later in the year.

Ms McCormack added that the present URDF funding call is focuses more on housing, including in relation to housing above shops, and that they would have to wait until a further call comes out for the Council to apply for any further regeneration funding.