Part 8 Phase 2 Liberty Square Public Realm Scheme.
Pursuant to the requirements of Part 8, Planning & Development Regulations 2001, as amended, Tipperary County Council hereby gives notice of their intention to carry out the following development:
Description: Phase 2 Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Public Realm Scheme, Thurles, Co Tipperary.
Liberty Square:
Widening of footpaths to provide an enhanced pedestrian environment and new high-quality paving
Raised uncontrolled pedestrian crossings across the junctions of Liberty Square and O’Donovan Rossa St, Friar St and Parnell St.
Controlled pedestrian crossings connecting the central parking island to the north and south side of Liberty Square.
Re-location of 12no. parking bays from the central island carpark located in Liberty Square and regularisation of parking around the perimeter to include a disabled parking bay and formalised bus stop.
Friar Street:
Minor alterations to include strategic buildouts and planting to provide an enhanced streetscape and compliance with DMURS.
Provision of high-quality paving to footpaths extending to Croke St junction from Liberty Square.
Parnell Street:
Provision of high-quality paving to footpaths extending to Hickeys Lane from Liberty Square.
Provision of raised table at the junction of Parnell St., Cuchulainn Road and Castle Av. including safe pedestrian crossing points, tightening of junction to prohibit right turning of HGV traffic onto Cuchulain Road.
Localised high-quality paving at the junction.
Enhanced NTA Safe Routes to School measures including raised zebra crossing in the vicinity of Scoil Ailbhe.
Cuchulain Road:
Provision to make Cuchulain Road a one-way system for traffic travelling east towards O’Donovan Rossa Street.
Widening of footpaths to provide a safe walking environment.
O’Donovan Rossa St:
Provision of raised table at the junction of Cuchulainn Road, Brittas Rd and O’Donovan Rossa Street including safe pedestrian crossing points.
Localised high-quality paving at the junction and to footpaths extending from Credit Union to Liberty Square.
Realignment of streetscape on existing two-way area (approx. 70m) to provide parking and dedicated provision buses.
Generally:
Resurfacing of carriageway.
Undergrounding of overhead services where possible.
Tree planting, landscaping and SUDS measures throughout the scheme.
The development has been the subject of an Appropriate Assessment screening in accordance with Article 6(3) of the EU Habitats Directive (Directive 92/43/EEC) and Article 250(1) of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended. The Appropriate Assessment screening concluded that the proposed development would not be likely to give rise to significant or indeterminate impacts on any Natura 2000 site.
The proposed development is not of a class set out under Schedule 5 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, and does not require Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
Any person may, within 4 weeksfrom the date of this notice, apply to An Bord Pleanála for a screening determination as to whether the development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment.
Plans and particulars of the proposed development, including Appropriate Assessment (AA), will be available for inspection or purchase at a fee not exceeding the reasonable cost of making a copy at: Thurles Municipal District Offices, Castle Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. [E41 KA44], from 9:30am until 4:30pm Monday to Friday from today Wednesday 17th July, 2024 until Friday 16th August, 2024 (excluding bank holidays).
Details of the proposed development are available online at www.tipperarycoco.ie. Details of the proposed development are also available at planning.localgov.ie.
On May 22rd 2024, Tipperary Co. Council announced, through a notice posted here on their website, that the bridge junction, crossing the river Suir, joining Cathedral Street, Emmett St and Liberty Square, [known locally as ‘Barry’s Bridge’ situated on route N75 east out of Thurles, town centre] would close nightly from 7:00pm until 5:00am, for an estimated 8 day period, beginning Monday, June 17th, until Tuesday, June 25th last.
In an email received by Thurles.Info in 2023, from the now retired Tipperary Co. Councils Chief Executive, Mr Joe MacGrath, this resurfacing work had been scheduled for May of 2023, and was already now over one year late.
According to the notice then posted, traffic was initially required to travel along the Mill Road into Littleton village first; then to the Horse & Jockey, before returning to Thurles via the N62; latter a distance of 21.7k (some 13.5 extra miles), instead of using the Archerstown route and onto the N62, close to the rear of Thurles Golf Club.
On June 25th, 2024 Tipperary County Council announced here on their website that they would extend the closure time of this same N75 Thurles Bridge upgrade. Same was to close nightly again, from 19:00hrs (7:00pm) until 05:00hrs (5.00am), from Thursday night, June 27th, 2024 (10 days later) until Friday morning, July 05th 2024 (again 8 days), in order to facilitate this same resurfacing works.
Fact: This work was satisfactorily completed in one night, including the necessary painting of grid lines on the yellow box junction which facilitates Emmett Street.
So it appears that a Computer Administrator, paid by the taxpayer, had been instructed to upload misleading information on two different occasions onto the Tipperary Co. Council website.
But, this is not the worst offence committed.
Tipperary Co. Council Climate Action Plan 2024 – 2029.(See section 2.3 of latter link). “Identify sites for large scale native and mixed woodland planting and set targets for planting and maintaining native trees in urban and rural areas, to enhance carbon storage; biodiversity and landscape; air quality, and urban heat island mitigation.“
Prior to this truly one night resurfacing upgrade, signs had been erected, supposedly to accurately direct traffic. Some signs, however were totally misleading to motorists and all these signs broke the rules of basic responsible administration.
Sheet Metal Tech Screws used to attach diversion signs to trees. Pic: G. Willoughby.
Res non Verba (Deeds, not Words),
Note: 3 easy drive, flange, self-drilling, stitching screws, with washers, were used to attach each sign. Same stitching screws are normally used to drill into 4mm metal sheets.
The diversion signs have now been removed, as have the Sheet Metal Tech Screws, but just in the last few days.
Misleading diversion signs on Cathedral Street. Pic: G. Willoughby.
Three of the signs using these Sheet Metal Tech Screws were attached to 3 living trees, (two on the N62 near Thurles Golf Club and a third near ‘The Source’, opposite Thurles Cathedral on Cathedral Street in the town centre.)
The other plastic signs were attached to zinc coated signposts, with same screws which, no doubt, with the coating now removed, will encourage rust.
The ‘Diverted Traffic’ direction sign on the Cathedral Street Roundabout, diverted traffic directly unto Thurles Bridge, where this imaginary 8 nights of work was due to commence. A short distance further on, near ‘The Source’, some 60 metres from the area to be resurfaced, the sign read ‘End Detour’. Most resident motorists remain mystified as to these instructions then being offered.
The waste of taxpayers’ money and major incompetence continues.
‘Little Egret‘. Extract from a poem by Johno Brett. “Standing tall and proud at the water’s edge, Plumage stark white against the salt marsh, Jet black legs and yellow feet, With a sharp stabbing beak, Stands the Little Egret.”
Little Egret(Egretta garzetta) Feeds In Thurles Town Centre. Pic: G. Willoughby
The little egret (Egretta garzetta) is a species of small heron, white in colour with a slender black beak, long black legs and yellow feet. Every day this week, usually between the hours of 4:00pm and 7:00pm, one such bird can be observed fishing in the shallow water of the river Suir, close to Barry’s Bridge, in the centre of Thurles Town.
Research shows that the little egret was once very common in Ireland, but became extinct through a combination of over-hunting in the late medieval period. In England the inclusion of some 1,000 egrets in a banquet to celebrate the enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York at Cawood Castle in 1465, indicates the presence of a sizeable population in northern England at that period in time. They were also listed in the coronation feast of King Henry VI in 1429 and by the mid-16th century, they had become scarce and nearly extinct.
Little EgretClad In Black stockings & Yellow Shoes. Pic: G. Willoughby
From the 17th century onwards the plumes of the little egret and its close relatives were in demand for the decorating of hats and became a major craze in Victorian times with the number of egret skins passing through dealers hands reaching into the millions annually, reducing the population of the species to almost extinction and stimulating the establishment of Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889.
Sometime in the 1950s, conservation laws were introduced in southern Europe to protect the species and since then their numbers began to increase. By the beginning of the 21st century the breed began expand westward, breeding again in the UK back in the 1960s before arriving in Ireland in more recent years.
Little egrets stalk their prey in shallow water, often observed shuffling their feet in an effort to disturb small fish, or may stand still and simply wait to ambush other available prey which include frogs, crustaceans, molluscs, insects, spiders and worms.
Here in Ireland, the species bred for the first time in 1997 at a site in Co. Cork and the population has expanded rapidly since, aided by climate change, and is now breeding in other Irish counties, since 2010, despite the severe cold winter weather experienced during the years 2010 – 2012.
Immediately opposite the front gates of Thurles Golf Club (N62, on left side entering the town) there exists what appears to be a large drain, the lid of which has since disintegrated.
Possibly A Collapsed Drain Cover(N62 Thurles).
Due to the grass and its proximity to the verge, this large drain; the mouth of which measures approximately 31cm (12ins) X 76cm (30ins) is of extreme danger, in particular to pedestrians walking at night and also faster moving cyclists and motorists, latter who may decide to stop their vehicle on the outer margin or verge, which allows for parking.
Our second picture shows water cascading down Emmett Street, from opposite premises owned by Pat The Barber and The Recovery Hub, situated at the junction of Barry’s Bridge and Emmett Street.
Water Leakage From Water Metres on Emmett Street, Thurles.
The picture above shows water flowing from what appears to be water metres which were placed too close to the roadway and possibly damaged by the constant moving of heavy trucks required to offload in this area.
Reports coming in from the public, confirm a worrying increase in Covid cases here in Thurles since Tuesday last.
Fresh Covid-19 wave had been forecast to hit Ireland this summer.
Nationally, 22 Covid-19 cases are confirmed as being in hospital intensive care units, by the HSE, (Figure recorded at 11:30am today, Thursday July 11th, 2024). Confirmed Cases in our hospitals are recorded at 361 Covid-19 cases, (Recorded at 8:00am today Thursday, July 11th, 2024).
At the end of June last (2024), Ireland’s health officials sounded a serious warning after reporting a sharp increase in confirmed Covid cases and hospitalisations. Experts warned that Covid transmission, while presently at moderate to high levels within Ireland; due an increase in travel and attendances at other large social events such as musical festivals, (both which results in crowded settings) the virus is permitted to spread more easily.
The specialist service for the surveillance of communicable diseases have advised anyone with possible symptoms of Covid, (even mild ones), to stay at home until at least 48 hours after their symptoms are mostly or fully gone. Symptom – sufferers should also avoid contact with other people, especially people at higher risk from COVID-19.
Note:The majority of retail outlets in Thurles no longer provide hand sanitizer for their customers.
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