Garvey’s Yard / Annaly Car Park / Weaver’s Hall Entrance

A Town Centre First Strategy was launched for Longford Town in 2024, which is an ambitious plan that sets out a pathway for the revival and revitalisation of the county town of Longford. The vision of the Town Centre First Strategy is to rejuvenate the town as a unique cultural, tourism and heritage destination through the further development of its physical, economic and social infrastructure. In order to achieve this, the Strategy sets out a number of transformational proposals. Transformational proposal 1 is for an improved and connected public realm.

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Public realm is a term used to describe areas where all members of the public have routine access to. It includes streets, public buildings, riverbanks, squares, as well as parks and green spaces. It can consist of many elements such as overall layout, shopfronts, architecture, street furniture, planting, signage, paving, footpath maintenance, colour schemes, traffic management, cycling and pedestrian facilities. The vision for Longford, as set out in the Town Centre First Strategy, is to ‘develop a high-quality and connected public realm throughout the town which will facilitate all generations to congregate, relax and enjoy the urban environment.’

As part of the consultation on the Town Centre First Strategy, feedback from many residents and visitors to the town was that people did not feel safe and comfortable using some of the town due to poor connectivity and sense of place. The Town Centre First Strategy identified that there were opportunities to improve the attractiveness and permeability of the pedestrian routes from car parks located within the backlands of the town to the town centre, and in tandem to encourage better utilisation of car parking provision in these area.  

One area identified for improvement is Garvey’s Yard and the Annaly car park area. Garvey’s Yard is a lane leading from Main Street to Annaly car park and housing area. It has been noted that a history of anti-social behaviour in this area, has led to people feeling unsafe. Longford County Council secured funding under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme Project Development Measure to appoint consultants to redesign this area to improve the public realm and enhance the sense of safety in the area.

The entrance to Ballymahon Street car park is via Weaver’s Hall, an under arch roadway with narrow footpaths on either side  was also identified as an area for intervention. The entrance to the apartments overhead is located along the entrance point. The passageway is currently dark and uninviting for people to walk in this area. A redesign of this area will enhance and prioritise the pedestrian experience and may encourage the reopening of the retail units along the ground floor.

Cunnane Stratton Reynolds have been appointed to prepare an urban design strategy for both these areas to enhance the connectivity and sense of place in these areas of the town.