Giving the streets back to the people
Cavan County Council is extending the ‘Streets Ahead Cavan’ pilot pedestrianisation scheme, after two pilot weekends at the end of July. The pilot pedestrianisation scheme is a bid to encourage safe socialising in the county town as Covid restrictions are lifted.
“It’s a gentle reopening of the town,” Paddy Connaughton the director of services, Transportation, Environment and Water Services explained.
“It gives us a chance to see what impact the pedestrianisation will have when traffic numbers are low. We want to see if there is an appetite for it in the future.”
Mr Connaughton stresses that this is “not the Fleadh reinvented” but a bid to “give the streets back to the people” as things open up. Under the programme, Cavan Town’s Main Street is partially pedestrianised to foster a welcoming, vibrant, and safe atmosphere for retail, outdoor hospitality, and other socially distant activities.
The pedestrianisation of the county town’s main thoroughfare sees it temporarily transformed into a pedestrian-friendly zone, with two stretches of streetscape free of vehicular traffic from 7pm to 11pm on Friday and Saturday evenings and from 3pm to 9pm on Sundays.
The pedestrianised area stretches from Main Street’s junction with Thomas Ashe Street as far as the junction with Town Hall Street, and from the top of Bridge Street to the bottom of the Fairgreen Hill.
Mr Connaughton says the exercise will provide valuable information for future plans for the town: “This is not about pushing footfall in the town. The first couple of weekends were experimental, we wanted to make sure we were not disrupting businesses. We are happy that what we have done so far has worked in that sense. Over the next couple of weekends, with the live events planned for the Abbeylands, we would hope to attract a greater number of people into the town.”
Developed in consultation with local businesses the temporary pedestrianisation is run in tandem with the Government’s plan for re-opening and will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, with the safety of the public paramount at all times.
“We will sit down and look at what we can learn from it over the next couple of weeks. What works well will continue, what doesn’t add value will be dropped. It’s about learning,” Mr Connaughton said.
“At present we are engaging with An Garda Síochána, the Chamber of Commerce and individual local businesses.”
The latest part of the ‘Streets Ahead Cavan’ are the series of concerts in Abbeylands. The opening weekend featured The Highstool Prophets and The Song Sisters. The Director of Services says the public appetite for such events is very strong.
“The events in the Abbeylands were sold out in minutes. That’s the appetite out there for live entertainment. We know the appetite is there, but we have to do that in tandem with the government regulations, and be mindful that we are in a Covid situation,” Mr Connaughton concluded.
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