Navan 2030 works to move onto Fair Green and laneways

Work to give Navan's Fair Green and Old Cornmarket a major facelift will come into action next month as the next phase of the Navan 2030 scheme is rolled out.

As work on cycle scheme on Railway Street and the Trim Road comes to an end, plans are in place to start work on the Fair Green and Old Cornmarket, Church Hill, Bakery Lane and Preston Place with the project expected to take 18 months to complete.

Last week's meeting of Navan Municipal Council heard the works will include undergrounding/diversion of existing services, drainage, new ducting and watermains, kerbing, paving, road surfacing, upgrades to public lighting, roll out of CCTV network, greatly improved accessibility for vulnerable users, increased permeability to town centre and landscaping.

It is anticipated that construction will commence early to mid August subject to National Transport Authority (NTA) approval. The meeting was told that NTA approval had been authorised to proceed with the scheme and letters would be issued to the contractors with the aim to be on the ground the week beginning 6th August. Works would commence first in Old Cornmarket and progress to the Fairgreen and taking it in phases. Fine Gael Cllr Linda Murray said she was concerned at the loss of parking spaces in the town as a result of improvement works.

"We are seeing beautiful landscaping being carried out cycle lanes and an enhancement of the town but we are going to have less parking spots," said Cllr Murray.

"On the Fairgreen, we currently have 118 spaces that are going to be reduced by 12 and the businesses along there are very concerned," she added.

"There are several spaces going to be removed to widen the footpaths, there will be four new disabled spaces and in addition there are two age friendly spaces but there are currently no plans to increase the number of car parking spaces in the town centre.

"It is sometimes impossible to get parking in the town particularly on a Friday. We are going through a tough time traffic wise as a result of the amazing upgrades we are getting, the town is looking beautiful but people are getting very frustrated and I think we need to think carefully about reducing the car parking spaces.

"We are only talking about 12 spaces but these spaces are going to be vital to businesses."

In response, Meath County Council said a parking study was being carried out to better understand parking trends in the town. "We have 178 additional spaces in Moathill and we have 75 additional spaces in Garlow Cross and also at the fire station that has an all day parking option," said a Meath Co Co official.

"We understand where people have changed parking patterns and we think there is more benefit for the retail sector in modifying the parking bylaws to reflect that turnover," they added.

"It is not easy in a historic town where there is not an awful lot of space to do that."

Aontu Cllr Emer Tobin an increased bus service would incentivise people to shop in the town.

"One of the best ways to future proof the attraction of bringing people into the town is to ensure our bus capacity is increased," said Tobin.

"We just have to get more buses and that will businesses confidence that customers will be incentivised to come in because I know the parking issue is finite, we can't magic up spaces," she added.

"If we could try to incorporate spaces from Pairc Tailteann whilst we are trying to get more bus capacity for the town, it might ease the concerns of businesses."

Cllr Tobin was told that Meath Co Co would be revising routes accordingly as the years progress.

When asked about plans to include Trimgate Lane (adjacent to Dunnes Stores) in the enhancement plans, Fianna Fail Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons was told that due to land ownership issues, works on this location are not part of the plan at present.