€2m investment for Old Dublin road
WEXFORD COUNTY Council has confirmed that it plans to spend as much as €2m on the Old Dublin Road in Enniscorthy, with the aim of turning it into a fully recognised industrial park.
County Secretary, David Minogue, said the work will be done on a phased basis over the next two to three years and it’s hoped it will begin before the end of this year.
Describing the road as ‘ the industrial hub of the town’, Mr Minogue said the works planned for the redevelopment of the area will include new footpaths, road resurfacing, pedestrian crossings, landscaping and an integrated signage system.
WEXFORD COUNTY Council has confirmed that it plans to spend as much as €2 million on the Old Dublin Road in Enniscorthy, with the aim of turning it into a fully recognised industrial park.
County Secretary David Minogue said the work will be done on a phased basis over the next two to three years and it’s hoped it will begin before the end of this year.
Highlighting the importance of the area for Enniscorthy and describing as ‘very much the industrial hub of the town’, Mr Minogue said: ‘We would like to see it upgraded quite a bit.’
‘With the development of the Enniscorthy by-pass it has become very accessible but it’s very much in need of a revamp,’ he said. ‘ There are a wide range of very important businesses out there and it’s important that the whole area has the feel of an industrial park.’
The range of works planned for the redevelopment of the road will include new footpaths, road resurfacing, pedestrian crossings, landscaping and an integrated signage system.
While all of the work is very important the latter aspect of the plan could prove very beneficial to businesses located on the road.
There are over 2,000 people employed in the area, however, visitors can find it difficult to locate some of the businesses because there isn’t any indicative signage on the road itself for many of them.
That’s something the local authority wants to address and Mr Minogue said part of the plan would be to have all of the businesses directly linked to the main road through the area and the upgraded footpaths and road surfacing would form part of that.
With regard to the planned investment, Mr Minogue said there ‘is funding there at the moment’ but he added that if further grant funding is accessed, it will accelerate plans for the area.
He said the Old Dublin Road is deserving of attention and it’s time that a focus was placed on redeveloping it.
Mr Minogue said the local authority was at the initial design stage for the area to develop an overall strategy and plan and that the design is being done ‘in-house’ by the local authority, led by Shay Howell and his team in County Hall.
‘It’s an important area of industry and it needs to reflect that visually,’ said Mr Minogue.
‘We would hope that work will begin before the end of the year and it will done on a phased basis,’ he added.
There is a lot of vacant land in the area and Mr Minogue said it’s hoped that by upgrading the entire area, other companies and businesses will be encouraged to re-locate there and that in turn could lead to development of the vacant land.
Mr Minogue also said the members of the local authority will be updated on progress of the proposed design strategies as they are finalised.