Council wants your views on Crescent
A €2 revitalisation contract in Crescent Quay and Henrietta Street will go out for public consultation at the end of January with a view to work starting in early September of this year.
Members of the public will have their say on the plan when it goes on display during a Part 8 planning process. The details were unveiled by Director of Services Eddie Taaffe and Senior Executive Engineer in the Special Projects Team Sean Meyler at a meeting of Wexford District Council.
It is expected that the work will be completed by the end of March 2019.
Mr. Meyler said the Wexford Quay Economic Development & Spatial Implementation Plan identified the Crescent as being a potential focal point of the quayfront and recommended the creation of links to the Main Street.
The work will include a new roadway from Anne Street to Oyster Lane, improvements in the roadway around the Crescent waterfront area from Anne Street to Henrietta Street, widening of footpaths around the Crescent to create a boulevard-style atmosphere and two additional road crossings at the John Barry Memorial and the south end of the Crescent near the Tourist Office.
The woodenworks along the quayfront near the Crescent will be replaced `and a raised walkway created around the Crescent wall along the waterfront.
Henrietta Street which cur- rently experiences problems of illegal parking, is to be transformed with a shared surface incorporating a roadway and footpath on the same level similar to the design in South Main Street. The idea is to form a link between the Main Street and the quayfront, to improve the ambience and encourage pedestrians and shoppers through the area.
According to Mr. Meyler there will be a high standard of finishes, street furniture and hard and soft landscaping throughout the new-look Crescent.
The overall cost of the project is €2 million with half of the money coming from a European Regional Development Fund and the remainder from the Council’s capital fund. The grant funding has to be spent by the end of 2018.
Director of Services Eddie Taaffe described the Crescent as ‘an historic, unique feature of the town’ which unfortunately has not been seen as an attractive area to walk. ‘It needs a lift, this is what this project is about’.
Cllr. Frank Staples asked about the replacement of the rest of the boardwalk and was told that the Borough Engineer Sean Kavanagh had a plan in relation to the area from Anne Street up to Wexford Bridge. ‘There is money in a different pot for the remainder of the boardwalk’, said Mr. Taaffe.
‘We have drawn up plans to refurbish and replace that section of the boardwalk. We hope to tender the work in February and have the contractor on the ground pre-Easter, if not have the work done pre-Easter’, said Mr. Kavanagh.
Cllr. Ger Carthy asked if the boardwalk funding was coming from the Local Property Tax or from the general road fund. He was informed by Director of Services Tony Larkin that the work is not coming from the road fund but some will be drawn from economic development money and the rest from ‘a fund we have created to deal with road safety and maintenance issues’
Cllr. Tony Dempsey welcomed the Crescent contract and said it is a very attractive area. He wondered if it was possible to limit the size of trucks allowed to drive up and down the quays.