Regeneration plans for deprived suburbs to be unveiled

THREE master plans for the regeneration of Limerick’s run-down council estates will be unveiled next Monday.

The director of the regeneration agency, Brendan Kenny, said yesterday that the consultants brought in to draw up the master plans will make their completed presentations at a joint meeting of the Northside and Southside Regeneration boards when they meet at the Clarion Hotel.

The three planning companies commissioned to bring forward the master plans are O’Mahony Pike architects (Moyross); ELM architects (Southill and Ballinacurra Weston); Murray O’Laoire and Lawlor Partners (St Mary’s Park).

Mr Kenny said that once the plans are approved by the regeneration agency boards, they will be given to City Hall to help initiate the planning process.

Mr Kenny said more than 100 houses have been demolished since the agencies moved into council estates in the past 12 months.

It is intended to demolish up to 3,000 houses and completely develop the four big council estates on the north and south side of Limerick.

Mr Kenny said they have been in ongoing talks with various government departments and had not received any indication of a change in government support given the economic slow down.

He said: “We cannot get approval for funding until the master plans are completed and the final draft will be ready by the end of the month. With planning it will be 2009 before any big money will be required. The process has already started.”

Mr Kenny rejected claims by some public representatives that the regeneration agency was re-housing people who had moved out of council estates in the city.

He said: “The feed back we are getting that most people want to remain on in these areas now that there is a new hope.”

He said he was confident the private sector would play a major role in the whole process.

Irish Examiner

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