Making Clonmel 'a town to be proud of' is the priority of Town Team

The recently-formed Clonmel Town Team, charged with the responsibility of town centre regeneration, is giving hope to people that Clonmel could be transformed.

That’s according to Noel Buckley, the Town Champion, or Chairperson of the Town Team.

“Everyone of us around this table has the common goal of making this a town we can be proud of in terms of living, doing business and socialising in,” he told a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

He stated that he was looking at this initiative through the eyes of his two-year-old granddaughter, and they needed to take this long-term vision of what the town would look like in forty years time.

He said it would take every group in the town working together as a team to achieve this.

The Town Team saw itself as a conduit in terms of facilitating conversations and working with Áine McCarthy, Town Regeneration Officer with Tipperary County Council, to build capacity and comply with the programme for government.

Mr Buckley said that dealing with vacant properties is one of the team’s key objectives, and he was surprised at the level of very positive engagement there had been at the recent meeting to showcase the support and schemes that are available in this regard.

Many owners of vacant properties had found this meeting informative and it had created a conversation among those people.
He hoped that this was the beginning of a journey that would translate into action and the transformation of the streetscape in Clonmel.

Mr Buckley said that by this time next year the team wanted to have a number of its goals achieved, such as a bicycle hire scheme.

Clonmel was a unique town and had the potential to become a tourist capital. And while they advertised the attraction of the Suir Blueway, you had to go to Carrick-on-Suir to hire a bike to cycle on the riverside cycling and walking trail.

He said they were also looking at the possibility of creating a micro hydro station on the Suir, with regard to the history of the mills on the river, while grants were available to carry out an energy audit in the town.

Mr Buckley said that a principle of mountaineering stated that “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go further, go together”.

He said that this would be his guiding compass of his role as chairman of the Town Team, as he stressed the importance of everyone working together to achieve their goals.

He said that a website was also being designed to bring information relating to Clonmel’s tourist attractions, business and sporting clubs together.

The planned redevelopment of the former Clonmel Arms Hotel and the launch of the new town bus service were also signs of hope.

The members of the Town Team came from a wide range of backgrounds and interests, he added.

The other members are Michelle Aylward (Chamber of Commerce), William Burke (Hospitality sector), Michael Madigan (Community and Heritage), Theresia Guschlbauer (Cultural and Environment), Carol Creighton (Local Authority), Eoin Powell (Community Sector), Richie Molloy (Mayor of Clonmel), Suzanne O’Gorman (Traders Representative), Philip Meaney (Wheelchair Association), Frank Moran (Vintners representative and Town Trader representative) and Cliona Maher (Festival representative/Cultural).