WEXFORD TIDY TOWNS RESULTS AND REPORTS

Litter was evident in one or two places as were the ubiquitous cigarette butts. 11 receptacles at this area is too great a number and maybe this could be a cause of your problem.

You are doing your utmost to promote the idea of Wellingtonbridge being Anti Litter and tidy. For this and the other initiatives that you have in place an additional mark has been awarded.

Residential Streets and Housing Areas:

The three housing estates/ developments St John’s Court, The Willows and Corach Avenue were visited and the adjudciator was more than impressed with the overall standard of presentation and the manner in which homesteads are looked after. It is good to note that residents of these estates look after their own premises and also communal areas that need maintenance.

It looks like that the walls in St John’s Court referred to in last year’s report were indeed power washed in the interim.

Over time this will reflect well on the Committee who have been encouraging this type of self sufficiency within the community.

Approach Roads, Streets and Lanes:

As someone who has descended from the Normans it was interesting to read that Wellingtonbridge has such a historical link with the arrival of the said tribe to Ireland and that next year is the 850th anniversary.

The road into the village from Ballinaboola was well maintained and verges cut back in accordance with good practice even though some pieces of litter were noted after being thrown up after cutting. This practice of the ‘dashboard diners’ who throw wrappers and plastic bottles into verges of roads is creating unseen litter that only comes to the fore when verges are cut should be frowned upon.

The road in from Wexford, although narrow, has an appealing backdrop of overhanging trees on the way in to the village and some interesting place names like Tinkers Alley and Sheep Dip Lane. Overall the standard was good.

Concluding Remarks:

It was good to revisit the village of Wellingtonbridge after an absence of many years. The village has such strong historical links with the arrival of the Normans to this land and an association with Lord Wellington.

It is a pity that more of this history is not depicted in the form of more information panels in the village to compliment the one that is situated in the green area in the centre of the village.

You are wished well in the competition in the years ahead.

WEXFORD

2018 Mark - 314 (309 in 2017) Category G

Commuity - Your Planning and Involvement:

Cuireann an moltóir seo fáilte roimh Loch Garman chuig Comórtas na mBailte Slachtmhara SuperValu 2018 agus chuig Ceiliúradh 60 Bliain an Chomórtais.

Thank you for your submission which again was a large document which can make it difficult for the adjudicator on the day to glean the highlights of written descriptions of works done. Large submission can make it harder for us to identify key projects or works to be considered for additional marks. For example comments on the gas pipeline and broadband (noted in the residential category) are only relevant as they relate to current projects to be considered this year.

However your maps were particularly useful to this adjudicator, divided as they were into a walking route in the town core and a driving route in your outer locations. This was a great idea and made visiting all your sites and projects much more logical. Very easy to follow on the ground and really most useful. You have an active committee of 13 with an interesting sub group structure to focus actions on particular issues of importance to your community. This approach seems to be working for you.

Well done in harnessing the support of local associations and especially the local media in your regular press releases.

Working with a variety of organisation has been especially fruitful at the Rocks, and we note this is a model of participation and cooperation you hope to build on in other areas. We are glad to hear that participating in the competition has helped build links and encourage participation in the community and helps develop a sense of pride in your locality and promote your residents to, as you say, ‘own their place’.

Continued good luck with your use of social media and your facebook page has had a significant increase in ‘friends’ this year. Your use of social media and technology will again help you advance your connections with the younger generation and those less likely to attend your meetings, but who may wish for an avenue to get their views, on the future of Wexford, aired. This will aid your ‘activating volunteers’ group no doubt in their work.

A 62% increase in your available volunteers in two years is a very impressive statistic for any town and is one you should be proud of. Good luck in reaching your volunteer goals for 2020. Thank you to all of those who give up their valuable time to care for their home town, this really is the spirt of Tidy Towns. Streetscape and Public Places: This was the adjudicator’s first visit to Wexford for a number of years and we were pleasantly surprised at the bustling town we found. The long main street is a delight and so busy and lively on adjudication day. A number of premises especially stood out on adjudication day. We especially noted premises such as the Premier fish and chip shop and Frock and the eye-catchingly blue and yellow bike shop at Selskar where the whole of the building was painted rather than just the commercial ground floor premises. The lively frontage of the Sky and the Ground was admired and the owners have also treated the access lane here which makes such a difference to its appearance. Well done.

Ensure owners in the town look to upper floors to remove or tidy up old wiring, remove old flagpoles, hanging basket brackets and old signs. The simple Wexford palette of streetscape materials used on the Main Street based on a sturdy stone kerb and quality paving was admired.

Try to ensure all future streetscape works stick to this simple palette no matter how small the intervention. The Obelisk at Newtown Road is a lovely landmark in the town but remove some buddleia sprouting near the top of the monument here before it causes damage.

It is great to see new civic buildings in the town with the impressive Court Complex and your new Garda station. Are there any plans in place for the reuse of the old art deco garda station and façade with the lovely historic lettering to the frontage of the old boots shop? Ensure these built gems are maintained until a new used can be found for them.

Weed growth was beginning to be higher than the boundary wall at the Garda station, ensure the planted bed here is maintained to improve its frontage in the short to medium term. We loved the fact that the old fire station on Davitt Road is now a boxing club. Your new Library was visited and fits nicely into the historic streets here. The Wexford Arts Centre nearby was admired although the red front door here is a little tired looking.

The old white and blue Garda station at the end of the main street is a very prominent building and it looks as if building works are happening here, hopefully this will find a new use as it is such a focal point at the end of the North Main Street. Your new school at Colaiste Eamon Ris on Green Street was visited and is a good addition to the streetscape here but the old blue access gate at Thomas Street needs to be painted to match the overall smart presentation of the school and grounds.

The Bullring Mall hadn’t yet opened as an artistic space on the day of the visit. We hope to see progress on St Patrick’s graveyard for next year’s visit.

Green Spaces and Landscaping:

Your Wexford in Bloom team have been very busy with many lovely examples of seasonal displays seem around the town. The wide path to Johns Gate Street would also benefit from some planters to enliven this walk way to your rejuvenated Redmond Graveyard.

The 1916 memorial with the historic backdrop was visited and the effort put in to maintaining it is recognised as planting here looked lovely in the neat gravel beds. The green at the Faythe was visited and the square planters here were beautifully kept although the lime green and blue colour scheme jarred a little with the restrained planting.

Street trees in the town area maturing nicely and as you are aware trees in towns make a significant contribution to people’s health and quality of life. In a number of locations keep an eye on expanding trunks as they grow to ensure the paving around them is removed as the trunks expand to prevent damage. The paving at the base of the trees at the rear Bank of Ireland car park off Common Quay Street are an example. Consider removing the paving here as it is lifting and replace with planting or a hedge as this would also improve this important pedestrian link from the car park to the lovely Bull Ring market.

We hope to see progress on Redmond Park over the coming years as plans here are realised. The lovely set piece of the planters and window box to the front of St Iberius Church were a lovely touch and were being dead headed to prolong flowering as we strolled past. The local park at St Brendan’s Road was very busy on adjudication day with its distinctive blue mural

at the gate to the Faythe entrance.

Nature and Biodiveristy in your Locality:

We would recommend you review and edit somewhat the presentation of this section for next year’s submission as it was difficult for this adjudicator to see which projects were to be considered in this year’s submission to gain marks.

The focus on community gardens is good to see but how does this relate to biodiversity? Are native fruit or vegetable variety of plants used. Do you use chemical weed and pest control or more environmentally friendly options to prevent damage to wildlife? Do you focus on native tree planting? Do you have a town biodiversity plan or strategy? Maybe one of your subcommittee could focus on this category for next year.

We note you plan to re-launch your bee friendly programme and we hope this is a success for you. List your works on this project to be included for consideration for marks in this category for next year’s competition. Across from Colaiste Eamon Ris at Bride Place the triangular grass area here seems a perfect spot to have a pollination planting area to improve the

value of this barren grass areas for our pollinators. Some centres have installed small show wildflower meadows in locations such as this, which can look spectacular during the summer months and costs no more than a few hours toil in soil preparation and a handful of native seeds.

Sustainability - Doing more with less:

Your schools have been very successful in the Green Schools programme with an amazing 100% participation by your primary schools. The efforts you have made to use more sustainable self-watering hanging baskets for your floral display by your Wexford in Bloom team is commended given the dry summer. How many groups took up your offer of water butts as a result of your campaign this past spring?.

As we mentioned earlier in the report as is seen in many other centres, you have some empty premises in the town and unoccupied properties along the Main Street. The seasonal strawberry and new potato stands are a real feature of the Wexford roadsides during the summer months and are a great way to sell locally grown Wexford produce. Would it be possible to have a summer pop up shop in one of the empty shops on the main street to help promote this local produce to those residents and visitors who do not regularly travel by car?

Well done to all involved in the conscious cup campaign. Refill.ie is another initiative you could let your shops be aware of. Congratulations to Mangans Fish and Chip at The Faythe for taking part in this new initiative. Ask pubs to move from plastic straws to paper straws? A simple move that can have a big impact on the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans and an issue particularly relevant to our coastal towns.

Tidiness and Litter Control: The work you do to focus on particular issues in this category is recognised with your participation in the chewing gum initive ‘bin it’, the ‘Mutt Mitt’ dispensers were noted around the town and the ‘butt boxes’.

The car parking areas to the magnificent twin spires of the Church of the Assumption and The Church of the Immaculate Conception were clean even though very well used. It’s a pity that there isn’t even a small area of public realm or simple lawn to the margins of these significant building to improve their immediate setting as seen from the street. On a very busy and very warm summers weekend the bins in the main street were certainly under pressure with drinks receptacles and ice cream wrappers. You may need to review your collection schedule during busy times. During an evening stroll down a much quieter Main Street the bins were full to overflowing from a full day’s use and should really have been emptied before they got overfull. The warm summers evening also meant they were starting to smell and the effect wasn’t particular pleasant with litter beginning to spill out in to the street.

The Tidy Towns cigarette butt stickers were noted to the lid of the bins here. We hope that the scout troop will adopt an area too for next year. How did the Wexford Presentation School do in their plastic free month challenge?

Residential Streets and Housing Areas:

We note in your submission that you have interactions with over 50 residents association in the town which is a very impressive way to spread word of your aims and works. The concept of distributing ‘rescued’ plants is a new one for this adjudicator and we hope they are settling in well at Corish Park and the other recipient sites.

Here and in other estates roads and open spaces remove all tree ties to established trees before they rub and damage the tree trunks.

You seem to have successfully harnessed the support of residents of housing estates. How about Wexford’s apartment dwellers? The namestone and communal open space to The Gallops are maturing nicely for example. Could you consider starting a pilot herb garden project in one of the towns apartment’s communal areas? Sage, Rosemary and Chives could be planted to provide free herbs for apartment dwellers with no access to ground level outside space. Build on the success of the work done at the Kennedy Park Garden and to the rooftop garden to county hall.

Have you considered the concept of local estate agents giving information on the tidy towns to new residents in their welcome pack, a great way to harness new volunteers and create an opening for new residents to contribute to the community? This is especially relevant with the upturn in the economy and housing areas such as that at Slippery Green begining to be developed.

Approach Roads, Streets and Lanes:

Your new gateway signage was good to see. Remember that as well as announcing your town, gateway signs are also an important traffic calming measure as it tells the driver to take care and slow down as they are entering a built up area. Your new sign on the Gorey approach was by the 50 pkh sign well into the town area. Gateway signage should really be placed at the 60kph sign further out this road, at the margins of the town, to slow traffic down. If new signs are being introduced try to ensure any redundant signs are removed.

Also be aware that signage at the train station and bus stops are critical as a first point of information for visitors to the town. The sign at the train station was faded and hard to read and slightly out of sight when you exit the station. This needs to be updated and maybe repositioned. There is no bike parking here which did not tie in to your sustainable transport aspirations. A number of bikes were chained to poles here. Some bus stops around the town are looking faded with some signs missing altogether. Contact Bus Eireann to arrange repairs. The audit and proposed removal of redundant signage is good to see to reduce streetscape clutter. The Murals at the Welcome wall make a lovely impression on the approach to the town from Wexford Bridge. The art work in the Fettits Lane, especially on the ceiling here, was admired and well done for all of the work done by the students and staff of the Wexford Collage of Art. Concluding Remarks:

As a returning visitor I was once again impressed with the presentation of your town and the work the committee has carried out. We thank all of the numerous stakeholders involved in the works which make up this year’s submission and continued good luck for all your planned work in 2019.

OYLEGATE

2018 mark - 260 (256 in 2017)

Community planning and involvement:

Cuireann an moltoir seo failte roimh Oylegate ( Maolan na nGabhar) chuig Comortas na mBailte Slachtmhara SuperValu 2018 agus chuig Ceiliuradh 60 Bliainan Chomortais. Thank you for the completed entry form amd the attached sketch map which was adequate for the adjudicator to identify places of relevance and also work that was undertaken in the last year. A better map with legends depicting in clearer terms the areas of the village would be appreciated for next year’s competition.

The committee of 7 with additional volunteers is sufficient for the work of Tidy Towns in Oylegate village. The entries under the list of agencies that you are involved in is rather sparse and whilst its good to note that the main businesses of the village are supporting your efforts you have no reference of any involvement with say Wexford County Council or Wexford Development. Its important for the development of your village that you engage with one or both of the above as well as other organisations such as the local ICA and GAA club in order to get the local community on board to support your efforts.

Text messaging is a great way of communicating but other methods such as the local parish newsletter, note in the local paper and the varying forms of social media are as equally as effective. There is no mention of involvement with the local school or local youth club which is a pity as the younger generation would be of great help with your work under the different categories. I know that you feel

that the younger generation will not become involved but from what this adjudicator observed there are younger families in the village and its surrounds that maybe with a different approach might be willing to come on board.

30 years is a long time entering the competition and the village has more potential to do better and achieve a higher overall mark. New methods to recruit new people on board is needed and also involvement with the agencies mentioned earlier in this section.

Streetscape and public places: The adjudicator wishes you well with the continuation of the Church Yard project and it was noted during the walkabout of the village. One presumes that this work is part of the Parish Councils role.

Good that the crèche mentioned in last year’s reports has come to fruition and the owner is wished well with the venture with the proactive approach that he/she or they are taking to getting small children involved in little planting projects.

Oylegate is on the busy N11 and traffic was fairly nonstop during the evening in question. Traffic calming measures in place were good and visible well in advance of approaching form either end of the

village. The National School on the Ballymurn Road is a fine building with good grounds and ample and safe parking spaces for parents and school bus. The Garda Station, not sure whether it’s manned or not, was also in good condition an d was obviously painted in the last year.

It was noticeable that this was a very progressive school having both a digital aware and junior entrepreneur flags. As stated elsewhere the Committee should become involved with the school to foster links with the younger generation. Both Mernagh’s and The Slaney Inn, two fine hostelries, were in a good state of presentation. As were PJ Diner and MJ Reck Carpets. The Gala Shop owned by Freemans was a busy centre but it was tidy and well managed.

There are a few premises on out the school road that are unoccupied and could do with some form of camouflage. It is noted that you state that the old village hall has been purchased so hopefully one will see positive changes to this building in the next year. The RC Church and grounds were in good condition maybe the surface of the car park was a little rough in patches. The Cemetery was also very presented on the day with some nice individual planters on graves

St Raphael’s Garden, which attracts visitors from other parts of the country, is a haven of tranquillity. Finally The Community Centre is a fine facility of modern design that serves the needs of the parish in that many community events are held there. Overall the standard was good.

Green spaces and landscaping: The standard in this category was very good and the adjudicator observed many fine examples of public planting in the village and outlying areas. One presumes that that many of these have been developed by the landscaping sections of the County Councils and maintained by members of the CE scheme.

The Village has some fine examples of trees that lined both side of the road opposite St David’s Terrace. Planting arrangements in front of Church and Slaney Inn were also admired. There is far more potential for Oylegate to do better in this category as it some very fine green areas that could be further enhanced by additional planting.

The area at the ICA acknowledgment sculpture is one example. It is important for the Committee to build up links with Wexford County Council so that issues like landscaping and others can be discussed and projects planned as a result of these discussions.

Nature and biodiversity:

The key components of this adjudication category are a) knowledge of local species and habitats and knowledge of local designated areas and b) being able to promote the knowledge gained to the local community and the passing visitor in format that would be easily accessed such as wildlife information boards in a central location. Good wildlife advice and communication of the importance of the local wildlife heritage to the local community is so important. Being aware of invasive and possible destructive plants such as Japanese knot is also essential.

The entry in this category has very little by way of input that relates to the above statements. What you entered is relevant to other categories. Again without labouring the point it is necessary to get in touch with the County Council Bio Diversity Officer or equivalent to help you get the most out this section and also maybe get the school involved in a specific project like a wildlife survey of the area or other such schemes. Visit Biodiversity Ireland website for further ideas www.biodiversityireland.ie

Sustainability:

The objective in this category has moved on from one of reduce reuse and recycle to one of promoting the concept of reducing the production of potential waste at source such as excessive packaging.

‘Doing more with less’ is a very apt description. The practical benefits of good waste management and control of unnecessary production will be seen as a major contribution to a better environment.

The adjudciator is disappointed that you have no input in this category as there is an opportunity to not alone pick up additional marks but also buy into the ‘doing more with less concept’. To get more out of this sector in terms of creating even a greater awareness of a more sustainable environment consider looking at the following websites for idea generation www.localprevention.ie ,www.greenhomes.ie and www.sustainableprocessing.ie

Also become aware what is happening within the county with other villages and towns that have benefited form advice from the County Environmental Officer. Also something that this adjudicator became aware of during last year’s adjudication is the circular economy. It is a bit too long to explain the concept in detail in this report, but if you access the following www.dccae. gov.ie you

will get a pretty good idea of what it’s all about. The idea of what is called a linear economy of ‘take, make and waste’ is now being seen as not sustainable and alternatives need to be found.

Tidiness and litter control: It’s good to have CE Scheme workers to do litter picks on a regular basis but it is important that the Committee encourage locals to help with the effort of keeping the village free of litter. The Committee should put the message out there that it needs additional volunteers to help with your weekly litter pick. In that way a rota scheme could be drawn up and this would alleviate the problem of the same personnel being left with the task week in week out.

On the day there was virtually no litter to be seen and this on a very busy road. General tidiness was also very good with kerbs free of weeds, except for one building unoccupied on the Ballymurn

road that weeds growing at the base of the wall. Also the derelict former commercial premises opposite Gala and PO needs to be tidied up. Business now has moved to the modern Business Centre on the Ballymurn Road. Overall the standard was very good and merits an increase in marks.

Residential streets & housing areas:

Cum an Tobair is a very nicely presented newer housing development that has a excellent road surface with traffic calming measures. The majority of houses which have wrought iron gates and railings are in top class condition. Trees in this estate are maturing nicely and the footpaths are good as one would expect of a new development.

St David’s Terrace is a long established housing development in the village and all homesteads were deemed to be presented to a good standard. Powers Range and Court were also admired for the manner in which residents have presented properties. Slaney View a complement of standalone bungalows at the Wexford end of the N11 was also in a very good state of presentation. The day in question was one of our unprecedented summer days so places and properties tend to look better.

Approach roads, streets and lanes:

Entrances from both ends of the N11 are very well presented and as mentioned in a previous category traffic calming measures were very acceptable and effective. It was noted also that there is a dedicated cycle track through the village and this looked to be safe and well marked.

The Road in from Ballymurn by the national school was a little iffy in patches. There are a few very nice relaxing seats for cyclists and people waiting for buses near the War of Independence/1916 Memorial Stone. Grass mentioned on last year’s report near PJs Diner seems to have been cut and all the verges were neat if more than a little parched because of the weather!

Concluding remarks:

It was a pleasure to stop off at the village of Oylegate as usually if one is passing through its just a matter of slowing down. There is more potential for the village in the competition and maybe it is time to get additional people on board to add to your existing core of volunteers.

You are wished well for the future.