NEWBRIDGE Tidy Towns Committee have said that the town centre needs an overhaul and are calling for the preparation of a regeneration plan.

The town achieved further success in the National Tidy Towns Competition in 2016 when it was awarded two extra points, bringing the town’s marks to 304, and securing a silver medal. But the tidy towns committee says it is disappointed that Newbridge is “not making progress”. Newbridge is in the ‘Large Urban Centre’ section of the competition, along with three other Kildare’s towns Naas, Leixlip and Celbridge.

“While we welcome the extra mark awarded in two categories – community involvement and planning and sustainable waste and resource management – the town is not making progress in other areas of the national competition, which is disappointing,” said secretary of the association Deaglán de Paor.

“We are, however, of the opinion that to make a significant improvement to its appearance the town needs a town centre regeneration plan to address the general appearance of the town centre, which would also include Eyre Street, Military Road and Market Square, addressing as a minimum issues such as undergrounding wiring, street lighting, unsightly or derelict buildings, excessive signage and, most importantly, some of the road and footpath surfaces.

“Implementing such a plan would give a much needed ‘lift’ to the town and should lead to further investment, benefiting all who live and work in the town centre.”

The Tidy Towns Association acknowledge the adjudicator’s many positive comments.

“While we agree that the quality of shop fronts is rather mixed, we were pleased that many of the businesses who have made great effort to enhance their external appearance are recognised and acknowledged in the adjudication,” added Mr de Paor.

The Liffey Linear Park continues to be one of the association’s flagship project, and the decision taken to develop the park as a mixture of formal parks areas and less manicured areas which encourage wildlife has been acknowledged by the adjudicators in their report.

“Newbridge is indebted to Andy, Tom and Peter for their untiring work in the park, and those who volunteer in maintaining and developing the park,” Mr de Paor said. “Thanks are also due to Anthony, who has done a great job painting street furniture, railings and bollards.

“While the problem of littering has improved somewhat, it continues to be a problem in the town generally and it is very difficult to get the message across to people that littering is anti-social behaviour and should not be condoned.

“Again, the residents’ associations and schools came up trumps and were adjudicated as generally well maintained and mostly litter-free. The importance of the community buying in to the concept of taking responsibility for improving and maintaining their own areas within the town is critical to the Tidy Towns effort.

“As always, voluntary groups like Newbridge Tidy Towns are looking for additional volunteers. Tidy Towns is an all-year-round commitment and their winter programme of work has already commenced, meeting each Saturday morning at 9.30 am.”