Out-of-town shopping centres are attractive because they don’t have one-way roads with two or three lanes running through them, the Limerick Cycling Campaign said when responding to a press release by Limerick City and County Council.
Limerick City and County Council said: “Limerick City and County Council has today announced that it has created a post for a dedicated City Centre Revitalisation Manager to spearhead a programme to help redress challenges to the retail sector. This follows on from the exciting news last week that the €180 million Opera Centre development has received planning consent and development work will commence later this year, as will re-development work on O’Connell Street.”
“The appointment is one aspect of a range of measures being adopted by Limerick City and County Council to trigger the revitalisation of the city centre to increase city centre footfall, meeting head-on challenges from online retailing and out of town shopping,” the council said.
It added: “The local authority is also examining measures to make city centre car parking more attractive for people to visit for shopping, particularly on Saturdays when there are already 2,000 free on-street disc parking spaces just outside the core business district, and will bring forward measures shortly to address this.”
The statement, which can be read in full on the council’s website, had only one other mention of transport: “Bus access will be promoted via leap card”.
In their response, the Limerick Cycling Campaign said that out-of-town shopping centres “enforce a traffic management systems to provide a safe pleasant centre”, adding: “You leave your car at the edge and walk to centre.”
In a Twitter thread, the campaign said: “The notion that attracting more cars into our Georgian city will somehow provide a solution to its decline is somewhat alarming from a local authority in 2020 when cities all over the world are doing the exact opposite.”
It said Limerick should look at “the transformation of Ghent, Belgium, who instituted the Traffic Circulation Plan in April 2017, which completely changed the way people get around. This swift, creative strategy has turned Ghent into a place for people.”
Here’s the full Twitter thread:
1. The notion that attracting more cars into our Georgian city will somehow provide a solution to its decline is somewhat alarming from a local authority in 2020 when cities all over the world are doing the exact opposite. https://t.co/6ZvKnVLppV pic.twitter.com/cLE4aNneT7
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
2. We need to ask some serious questions here about who is making decisions on how we rejuvenate our city and on what qualifications and evidence they are basing those decisions on.
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
3. We have to remember people come to cities for culture, not for parking There is an abundance of off-street parking available in the city. We need to foster culture! Limerick is currently one of the most car-friendly cities in Europe. You can drive and park practically anywhere
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
4. There is very little enforcement on our core commercial streets meaning that the city is overrun with speeding and illegally parked cars delivering a hostile and unpleasant environment for pedestrians, commerce and culture!
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
5. Doncaster seems to have a more holistic approach ‘Amazon v the high street – how Doncaster is fighting back’ They are turning car parks into theatre spaces now that is something we can get behind. https://t.co/s08rYQpFPh pic.twitter.com/J46n4tDWj8
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
6. Lets look at what Cork “Evidence overwhelmingly supports the concept of improving city centres through improved traffic-management and by prioritising other transport modes. This ultimately improves footfall; and, after all, pedestrians bring life, and pedestrians spend money”
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
7. Opinion from cork https://t.co/r2vHZf6DUz
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
8. Witness the transformation of Ghent, Belgium, who instituted the Traffic Circulation Plan in April 2017, which completely changed the way people get around. This swift, creative strategy has turned Ghent into a place for people. https://t.co/Ff9gS63CpL
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
9. The reason out of town shopping centres are so attractive is because they don’t have two and three lane one directional roads running through them. They enforcs a traffic management systems to provide a safe pleasant centre. You leave your car at the edge and walk to centre.
— Limerick Cycling (@LimerickCycling) March 4, 2020
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