News Release -
E-Towns Conference speaker calls for balanced regional development
Addressing Shannon Development’s National E-Towns Conference in Tarbert, Co. Kerry, (Wednesday 14th November ’07) Kevin Thompstone, Chief Executive, Shannon Development said, “In coming up with the E-Towns concept Shannon Development’s objective has been to provide alternative solutions for enterprise based on the quality of life advantages of small towns and villages throughout the Shannon Region. However we believe that our E-Towns initiative provides a template that can be used for the development of smaller communities in any location in Ireland. Over the last few years, we have been involved in developing the concept and in preparing the foundations for E-Towns projects. This has involved working closely with local authorities and local communities in the areas of town planning, broadband access and training,”
Construction work on Ireland’s first E-Town in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, is due for completion at the end of this year. The project involved a €4 million investment by Shannon Development in the construction of 12 live/work accommodation units. Already 3 sold have been sold and 3 other units are committed.
“We were delighted to announce recently that we had lodged a planning application for full planning permission for the development of our second E-Towns project, consisting of 8 live/work houses on a 1.3 acre site on the Ferry Road in Tarbert, Co. Kerry. Our application for planning permission, if successful, will allow construction work on the €2 million Tarbert E-Towns project to commence early next year,” said Mr. Thompstone.
Speaking at the Conference Gillian Buckley, Chief Executive of the Western Development Commission called for balanced regional development and stressed the need for proactive planning to ensure the gap between East and West is narrowed. She also called for full implementation of the National Spatial Strategy, pointing out that the population base in the Greater Dublin area currently accounts for 40% of Ireland’s population, the CSO forecasts that this will increase to around 46% by 2020. Ms Buckley stressed that without spatial policy 2 million people could be living in the greater Dublin area by that date.
Highlighting the challenges facing smaller communities, Ms. Buckley said that poor physical access and broadband connectivity were real issues. She emphasised that improved connectivity would reduce the time it takes to travel to work increasing a region’s population catchment and employment options for rural dwellers. She also pointed out that smaller communities have an advantage in that they provide a better quality of life, they are less congested, have lower cost of living, and they offer a cleaner, safer environment. She praised Shannon Development’s E-Towns initiative saying that it was an innovative model of regional development which brings direct and spin-off job creation opportunities and investment into rural communities.
Among the other Conference speakers was Tomas Hayes, Assistant CEO Kerry Enterprise Board who highlighted issues facing small businesses, among them he cited a lack of access and availability of early stage finance, a slow rate of innovation and poor connectivity physical infrastructure (road and rail) and broadband.
Mr. Hayes commended the work done by Shannon Development on their E-Towns initiative which he says will help rejuvenate towns and villages by generating an enterprise culture in local communities.
Other key speakers included Tom Curran, County Manager, Kerry Co. Council who spoke about the economic challenges facing Kerry; Gerry Murphy gave a case study on village regenerations; and Liam Waldron from O’Sullivan Campbell Architects shared design secrets of the live/work units in Tarbert.
Joan Murphy, Chairperson, Tarbert Development Association spoke about the Associations commitment to Tarbert E-Town; Adam Coleman, Director, Interventions, spoke about issues facing entrepreneurs in the live/work experience. The Conference also had a case study on the experience of the regeneration of Derry~Londonderry and the proposed role of Live/Work in the city. For further information on Shannon Development’s E-Towns initiative visit www.etowns.ie.
End
For further information please contact:
Nandi O’Sullivan
Public Relations Manager
Tel: +353 61 710259
Mobile: +353 86-2371510
Fax: 061 363180
E-mail: Click Here