The proposed extension of the Waterford boundary into
Kilkenny which the committee is tasked with examining is undoubtedly the
correct decision for the people currently living in that area and indeed for
all the people of the wider region. A single authority, driving social, cultural
and economic development with no boundary artificially limiting that focus and
growth would deliver the best outcome across any matrix you care to examine in
the South East Region.
We are aware that detailed demographics & financial
details etc. will be contained in the submission by Waterford City & County
Council. However we wish to make some general points to be considered by the
commission.
In a nutshell the extension of the boundary would merely
regularise an anomaly which has arisen whereby much of the population of
Waterford CITY who live on the northern side of the city happen to live in a part
which has expanded into South County Kilkenny. This means that the people of
that area are on the extreme edges of the administrative area of Kilkenny
county council when, if they were to be administered by Waterford City &
County Council they would immediately be right at the centre of that
administration. This would have huge benefits in terms of convenience,
efficiency and visibility for the area under review.
Any cursory look at the area being examined would determine
that in no way can it be said to be an example of effective or efficient local
government. There has been virtually no investment by the local authority in
the area over decades and indeed with its’ proximity to the city it could be
argued that the suburb should have naturally developed to a far greater extent
than it currently has. Kilkenny County Council, for example, has not built one
social house in the area – ever. This, despite Ferrybank being the second
largest urban area in the then Kilkenny County Council area after Callan. All Local
Authority tenants in Ferrybank are tenants of Waterford Council, despite the
fact that the Council cannot even sweep the streets in ‘their’ estates.
Placing the area into Waterford would ensure that any bias
towards it as a result of being on the periphery would in time be addressed by local
service delivery, increased centrality and increased political representation. Despite
some (lately given) commitment from Kilkenny (to locate a playground in
Ferrybank for example) it is obvious that Ferrybank and environs have been
neglected for many years.
The Waterford Division of An Garda Siochana already covers
the exact area being examined by the committee. A boundary extension would
regularise the Garda/Local Authority boundary and it makes common sense to have
the entire area out as far as the by-pass also covered by Waterford Council.
The Department of Social Protection offices on the Cork Road in Waterford City
also serve that area of South Kilkenny.
It would also, in time regularise the delivery of a myriad of
services to that area by many organisations which run into difficulty with the
current boundary alignment. Indeed there has been considerable complication for
many Waterford organisations who work in the greater Ferrybank area if they
happen to be physically located outside the current boundary. It is a ludicrous
situation and pertains for example to two projects based just outside the
current Waterford boundary run by Waterford Area Partnership and historically
funded via FAS in Waterford. Both projects were initiated and continue to be
managed by Waterford Area Partnership but are now funded via Kilkenny/Carlow Education
Training Board because the rented space for the projects just happens to be
outside the city boundary. This creates difficulties with sourcing funding, reporting
lines, duplication, evaluation and accountability, for instance.
This in turn highlights another untenable situation whereby
disadvantaged people and communities are supposed to access and source help
from organisations other than the local authority, based an hour away in
Kilkenny city rather than from their ‘local’ city centre, which is on their
doorstep in Waterford. This is surely a factor in hindering communities,
especially already disadvantaged and excluded communities, from accessing
adequate or fair assistance.
When the then Waterford City sought a boundary extension back
in 2005 the rate base in the relevant area of South Kilkenny was circa €1.5
million. The rate base currently stands at circa €1.8 million from our information.
If the distribution of funds in South Kilkenny was fairly allocated, all of
this would be spent on the area, plus a portion of the local government fund as
well as any separate grant funding. I don’t think anyone would, or could, claim
that this is the case – meaning that South Kilkenny is severely disadvantaged
in terms of getting its fair share within the county. Interestingly, even those
who advocate against the boundary extension will admit that Ferrybank and
environs do not get a fair share of the Kilkenny financial cake or economic
development pie.
The Port of Waterford with its economic potential also rests within
the area. Interesting in terms of maximising the economic potential of the
port, to note that not one cent of their own money was invested in the access
road to the port by Kilkenny County Council - a situation which is telling in
its own right. That necessitated the National Roads Authority having to build
the road – the shortest primary route in the country – even with its own number,
the N29. We have no doubt that the Port of Waterford at Bellview which
historically was the City’s port and is the very reason for the City’s
existence and the adjoining economic zone would be much greater priorities for Waterford
City & County Council – which already has a major water treatment plant for
the city located there. Kilkenny County Council has always and no doubt
continues to focus the majority of its development on Kilkenny city where it is
headquartered.
Kilkenny County Council persisted for decades in refusing to
upgrade or improve the main Dublin Waterford Road or at least the portion from
Kilkenny City to Waterford which was commonly acknowledged as the worst
inter-city route in the Country. (The part which is north of Kilkenny City was
heavily invested in by comparison.) Indeed it could easily be argued that it
was as a result of this type of action that the delivery of national inter-city
routes had to be taken from the remit of Local Authorities and placed with an
independent body where local rivalries would no longer be a decider in
persisting with not developing national primary routes merely to disadvantage ones’
neighbours!
Another prime and much more recent example of the antipathy of
Kilkenny County Council towards Waterford is the white elephant of the
Ferrybank Shopping Centre. A monstrosity built (inexplicably) directly adjacent
to one of the busiest commuter routes in the country. The fact that the centre
came to be located where it is, stands as an example of the worst practices in
both strategic planning and planning that persisted in any County or beyond. A
centre which is demonstrably far too large for a location with approximately
5,000-6,000 people can only have been conceived and implemented by a Council
with not just no interest in what damage it might do to the retail product of the
immediately adjacent Waterford City Centre but indeed little care for what consequences
it might have for the local community – which lost viable neighbourhood centres
as a result of its implementation. It now stands, practically empty, as a
monument to the madness of some planning decisions which were badly (or
maliciously?) conceived and implemented.
That the anchor tenant would persist in fighting an expensive
legal action rather than open there is informative. It is probable that without
the then Minister at the Department of the Environment providing the money to
the local authority for the opening and staffing of a local area office in the
shopping centre it would remain entirely empty to this day (while a national
staffing embargo was in place for all Councils!) .
We relate these anecdotes to indicate the damage which has
been done and/or attempted to be done to Waterford City to hamper its growth
and potential in recent decades and to indicate that despite any claimed
conversion to co-operation, we do not expect any change in the culture, as
demonstrated by the policies, whether stated or not, of recent decades. Any
words to the contrary lately echo very hollow when judged in the light of those
actions.
We would also respectfully suggest that, despite the
rhetoric, there remains a very significant and sizable - though perhaps subdued
in light of the tone of some of the debate - cohort of residents who would
favour a boundary extension (or who are indifferent). Perhaps their view should
be established in a verifiable manner.
We have no doubt whatsoever that the area under review in South
Kilkenny would be better served, better planned and more coherently developed if
it was administered by Waterford City & County Council. We also have no
doubt that Waterford would deliver much more if it were not curtailed by out
dated boundaries which have caused unbalanced development whereby it has almost
reached the maximum extent of development to the south of the River Suir while
north of the river remains under-developed.
Finally we are convinced that this arrangement would be a far
more efficient and cost effective method for delivering local government in the
area. While it would not cost any less, especially in light of historic under
investment.
The people of South Kilkenny could certainly expect a warm
welcome from the people of Waterford as well as a far better delivery of
services with vastly improved ease of access. There is far more that unites us
than divides us and I am sure that arrangements could be made by other bodies
(sporting or otherwise) to facilitate people’s preferred loyalties!
