The Clonmel Town Team held their first meeting of the New Year in order to establish their set of actions to focus on from the Clonmel Town Centre First Action Plan for 2024. Reflecting on 2023, Noel Buckley, the Town Champion highlighted to the team the progress that had been made in 2023 from the Town Centre First Plan. For example, a new Town Team was established during the Summer to build on the positive work of the Clonmel Town Forum in recent years. The purpose of the team is to help deliver the Clonmel Town Centre First Action Plan in collaboration with Tipperary County Council and various stakeholders as set out in the Plan.
The team was provided with a presentation from Ruth Maher, Information Systems Project Lead with Tipperary County Council, on useful websites that have been developed by the Local Authority as the team hopes to progress the redevelopment of www.clonmel.ie in 2024. One of the websites that generated a keen interest from members of the Town Team was the events page www.whatsonintipp.ie where any person, group, committee, club etc can add their event to this page to create an awareness of what is going on, not only in Clonmel, but the County. If used by everyone it would become a comprehensive source of information to locals and visitors alike and Noel Buckley encouraged the Town Team to make all of their contacts aware of this resource.
Áine Mc Carthy, Town Regeneration Officer with Tipperary County Council, provided the team with an update on initiatives in relation to tackling vacancy and dereliction that are continuing across the town and county. She advised that following the successful information evening held by the Town Team in November last year in Clonmel, the Vacant Homes Officer in the Council had been contacted by a number of property owners in the town to avail of the supports available to them. In addition to this, local Councillors had also been in touch with the Vacant Homes Officer to establish connections between the Council and vacant property owners. She also provided an update in relation to other positive developments in the town such as the recent works that had commenced for housing units on Upper Gladstone Street.
The work of the subcommittee for the Christmas lights was highlighted by Noel Buckley and he thanked the members of the Town Team who were instrumental in driving support to fund the Christmas lights in Clonmel. This committee will remain in place and prepare sustainable plans for the coming year in relation to securing support from retailers and businesses in the town centre for the lights.
Initial plans for 2024 include an upcoming Breakfast Briefing hosted by the Town Team on the 9th of February in the Talbot Hotel in order to create an awareness of the business supports available to retailers, businesses and enterprises in Clonmel. The event will bring together local business owners, entrepreneurs, and key figures in the business support network in the Clonmel region. It will be an excellent opportunity for networking, sharing insights, and discussing the future of business in Clonmel and it’s being supported by the County Council, County Chamber, The Mid-West regional skills, ETB and Local Enterprise Office. The event will be bookable on the County Chamber website. In addition to this work, the team hopes to establish sub committees to look at business and cultural initiatives that can be progressed in 2024.
Closing the first meeting of the year, the Town Champion noted that “It's evident that the Clonmel Town Team is getting actively engaged in various initiatives to enhance the town's vibrancy, tackle challenges, and keep the community informed by working with the relevant stakeholders in conjunction with the County Council” and he thanked everyone for their contributions on the team to date.
More information on the Clonmel Town Team and the Clonmel Town Centre First Action Plan is available on https://www.tipperarycoco.ie/clonmeltowncentrefirst . If you want to get in touch with the team you can contact Noel Buckley, Town Champion on 087-8537266.
