LISTOWEL WINS MASSIVE VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN PUBLIC SURVEY
IRELAND’S TIDIEST TOWN GETS A GLOWING ‘HEALTH CHECK’ REPORT
FOR all the challenges it faces, Ireland’s Tidiest Town has everything to play for when it comes to driving economic growth into the future as a new ‘ health check’ report on Listowel revealed last week on its public launch.
For Listowel has received a massive vote of confidence from all questioned in the comprehensive surveys carried out as part of the work of the report.
It’s a response giving townspeople a great deal of optimism as well as providing a clear template from which to now direct economic strategy into the future.
From the quality of its cafés and restaurants to customer service in shops, the quality of shops, the habits of shoppers and much more, the findings were largely deeply positive.
But it shows where Listowel needs to build too – not least in improving traffic flow and providing improved parking.
The report also paints a picture of a rural town amply served by outstanding attractions, but where a little more planning could go a long way in making Ireland’s Tidiest Town even more attractive.
Carried out and crunched by a team of students and academics at the IT Tralee, the surveying of town users threw up fascinating results, showing that a massive 89 per cent rate Listowel’s café and restaurants as best of all; with 87 per cent of respondents describing as ‘good’ the sense of security in the town by day; 88 per cent rating as ‘ good’ the choice of eateries; parks and green spaces getting a massive seal of approval; and the general attractiveness of the town rating 87 per cent, among many other positives.
“The Town Centre Health Check is a very important piece of research, and as a benchmark based on feedback from customers, retailers and visitors, it gives us a great indication of where we are and outlines the areas we need to work on,” Alliance Chair Stephen Stack said of the report.
“What is most pleasing about the research is the tremendous sense of pride coming through from everyone in the town. If we can harness this pride and back it up with a set of of actions... then we will give people who visit our town the best possible experience and more reasons to spend in the town and stay with us.”
Listowel finally has a clearer sense of how much it loses to the bigger shopping centre of Tralee thanks to the report. But the loss contained in the main is in the clothing sector with the vast majority of respondents (81 per cent) doing their main grocery shopping in Listowel.
The response across the board from business owners was hugely positive too, but shows them united with regular shoppers in the two items with which they are least enamoured: parking and traffic flow. Traders are also keen on competition: Increasing the number of shops in town was among their key recommendations.
Traders are shown as very positive, with 68 per cent expecting trade to improve over the next two years. Just seven per cent fear it will get worse in that time frame.
A footfall survey and land-use survey was also carried out by the IT students.
Footfall shows Listowel is busiest on Friday mornings (counted outside Moloney’s in the Square).
Meanwhile, the land-use survey revealed an overall 91 per cent occupancy rate within the town centre boundary, 20.2 per cent of which was accounted for by retail use.