Community – Your Planning and Involvement / An Pobal – Pleanáil agus Rannpháirtíocht:
Fáilte chuig Comórtas Na mBailte Slachtmhara Super Valu don bhliain 2022. Táimid buíoch daoibh as ucht na hiontrála a chur chugainn, agus guimíd gach rath ar bhúr gcuid oibre amach anseo.
Welcome to the 2022 SuperValu TidyTowns competition and thank you for your application form with photos and also for your map and three year Plan 2021-2024.
It’s wonderful to be able to visit the communities this year and see the results of the hard-working volunteers. Your committee of seven has an additional twenty who assists in litter pick-up and when a job needs to be done.
You list the state and semi-state organisations in addition to business and community groups who support you.
This is your twentieth year to enter the competition and we are delighted to read that it has resulted in major improvements being undertaken in Castleisland as well as awareness of continuous planting for pollinators.
Your map neglected to show most of your new and most of your maintained projects and so it was by chance that we came upon them. Please rectify this next year. Well done on referencing the SGDs – just add a note as to why they correspond to your work.
Streetscape & Public Places / Sráid-Dreach agus Áiteanna Poiblí
The main streets in the town have a mix of single, two and three storey vernacular buildings and these, along with the residential and large commercial businesses on the approach roads, give your town its unique character.
We loved the wide, open Main Street with the island/median in the centre. Perhaps this could be extended so that the centre of the street would have a row of trees for the complete length to add to the beauty of the streetscape.
You have some fine key buildings in the town – the RC Church of St Stephen and St John, the buildings associated with the Presentation Convent, the old Church of Ireland St. Stephen’s Church, the old mill buildings – your industrial heritage and the old Market House – now a shop – terminating the vista on Main Street.
Taking advantage of the Shopfront Enhancement Scheme was worthwhile for the businesses which has resulted in 27 properties being approved for painting, replacing doors and windows, replacing shopfronts, window displays in unused premises and lighting.
We are delighted that the pump beside the fountain has been reinstated – but it isn’t connected. Are there plans for this to be connected to the water mains or to have a public water dispensing unit installed so that pedestrians can refill their water bottles? We loved the mural in the bicycle shed in the Presentation Primary School yard and also the one along the river walk. The painted utility boxes were also noted. Is the KDYS Youth Centre in use?
Green Spaces and Landscaping / Spásanna Glasa agus Tírdhreachú
You have mature trees, green areas, the rivers, stone walls and are surround by rural landscape, so all around you there are habitats for our fauna.
We noted the biodiversity signs on the wall beside the river – personally we would have grouped them together. But we loved the simple, clear information which they contained; well done.
Did you get advice on the location for planting the 25 Hazel and 25 Guelder Rose saplings? We note they will be vying for water and light with the mature trees which surround them. Was this the only site in town available to you? Did you get a positive response to the ‘Lawns are Going Long’ campaign? At this stage most residents are aware of the
aware of the importance of biodiversity and leaving flowers in lawns to bloom for pollinators so we hope that the response was positive. Have you undertaken a Daubenton bat survey along the rivers Maine and Mullaghi? Contact Bat Conservation Ireland to register. We assume at this stage you have swift boxes installed – we looked for some on the public/educational buildings but didn’t see any.
These are easy to install and very important in our towns, which now have few locations for the swifts to nest. Contact www.birdwatchireland.ie or www.swiftconservation.org for advice on their installation and maintenance. Having a Biodiversity Officer as one of your members is wonderful
and we are sure the expertise provided is well used.
Nature and Biodiversity in your Locality / An Dúlra agus an Bhithéagsúlacht i do cheantar:
You have a long list of activities undertaken by various businesses, schools and community groups.
Having a shop local campaign is very worthwhile as not only does it help local manufacturers and shops but it also cuts down on time and money spent on travel. We are delighted that the schools are involved in the Green Flag programme. In addition to giving them talks on energy etc what activities/site visits/projects have you undertaken with the students?
We visited the recently planted orchard in Muire Gan Smál – plum, apple and pear trees. They might need some tree supports/stakes until they are established.
We also visited the Community Garden but note that it is closed and didn’t seem to have been active for a considerable time, which is a pity. Are there plans to reopen it?
If not, then take down the sign. Your various trails were noted. It’s always pleasant as a visitor to an area, to have a route mapped and if it contains items/buildings of interest then that’s a bonus.
The ESB electric vehicle charge point near the local authority offices was noted; are there others? We liked your 10 top tips for sustainability but saw that the installation of a water butt wasn’t amongst them. Have many in the community installed a water butt?
In addition to businesses along the main streets we also noted the residential properties which we were delighted to see as the centres of our towns need activity when the businesses close shop in the evening and go home.
Many of these residences had been freshly painted and some had window boxes or hanging baskets full of colourful flowers adding to their beauty. The houses on the approach roads to Castleisland are a mix of bungalows and two storey houses set on individual sites. All were well maintained and the gardens had trees, shrubs and colourful floral displays with great varieties of pollinator friendly planting.
We were delighted to read that the various residents’ estates have groups that take care of the communal areas organising ‘litter picks, painting, planting and tidying’.
Tidy Towns committees need help such as this when the town is large. Don’t forget to encourage them to allow swaths of grass to grow to produce native wildflowers and grasses where the communal areas are not required for ball play.
The planting in front of the Castle View Drive name sign needs to be trimmed as the sigh is almost hidden. Don’t forget to encourage the residents to grow pollinator-friendly flowers. Have a look at the website for ideas for the garden.
http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Gardens_actions-to-help-pollinators-July-2016.pdf
Sustainability – Doing more with less / Inmharthanacht – Mórán ar an mbeagán:
Like many communities in Kerry, you took part in the Kerry Clean-Up Week in April and also the Spring Clean-Up – we commend the community on this as it focuses the attention of a community on the need to be vigilant on litter, fly-tipping and weed growth.
We also admire the fact that the local schools got involved – please commend the teachers for their participation. When we visited the town was virtually litter free but unfortunately weed growth was also noticed at kerbs, the base of walls etc. We suggest that the litter pick up volunteers also become weed removal volunteers and ask them to bring a hoe or wire brush and to also remove weed growth. The gravel areas can be sprayed with organic weed killer or a mix of vinegar, salt and washing up liquid. The small thin rubbish bins, while taking up little footpath space, are really a waste as they hold only a small amount of litter and so are usually full, leading to litter falling out onto the streets. We recommend the big belly litter bins as these can contain more waste. In some communities separate bins for plastic waste and recyclables are being introduced – maybe KCC will install some in areas where people congregate? The trees along the pedestrian meridian need to be trimmed – we had to crouch in order to walk along and see the sculptures located there.
You have community groups and others putting up signs/posters which are untidy. We recommend that you request that the area engineer installs 2.4m x 2.4m Community Notice Boards, painted black, on the main entrance roads to the town.
All community posters are restricted to these boards and then all ‘illegal’ posters which are attached to posts, fences etc around the town are removed as soon as they are noticed. The freshly painted poles were noted. Please request that KCC remove the large signs which are attached to the piers into the cemetery. These signs – if they are needed – should be inside the cemetery attached to the walls and not to the piers which are an architectural feature along with the gates and stiles and the signs detract from them – clutter.
Tidiness and Litter Control / Slachtmhaireacht agus Rialú Bruscair
In addition to businesses along the main streets we also noted the residential properties which we were delighted to see as the centres of our towns need activity when the businesses close shop in the evening and go home.
Many of these residences had been freshly painted and some had window boxes or hanging baskets full of colourful flowers adding to their beauty. The houses on the approach roads to Castleisland are a mix of bungalows and two storey houses set on individual sites. All were well maintained and the gardens had trees, shrubs and colourful floral
displays with great varieties of pollinator friendly planting. We were delighted to read that the various residents’ estates have groups that take care of the communal areas organising ‘litter picks, painting, planting and tidying’.
Tidy Towns committees need help such as this when the town is large. Don’t forget to encourage them to allow swaths of grass to grow to produce native wildflowers and grasses where the communal areas are not required for ball play. The planting in front of the Castleisland Drive name sign needs to be trimmed as the sigh is almost hidden. Don’t forget to encourage the residents to grow pollinator-friendly flowers. Have a look at the website for ideas for the garden.
http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Gardens_actions-to-help-pollinators-July-2016.pdf
Approach Roads, Streets & Lanes / Bóithre Isteach, Sráideanna & Lánaí
The approach roads to Castleisland are well maintained and the areas around the name signs neatly mown.
With the adjoining colourful planting beds the eye is drawn to them as we entered the town. The roadside frontage at the entrance to town is a great location of how to effectively present a semi-wild habitat, with a narrow strip of tidily mown grass along the outer edge to show that the wilderness behind is deliberate. We suggest you undertake this approach on your access roads. You might also consider planting wildflowers in parts of the wide margins to add to the colour and also to help the pollinators.
It’s wonderful that the busy N21 is no longer routed through your town and so through traffic has been eliminated making the Main Street more pleasant for all. We noted the various planters along the entrance roads – don’t forget that planters should only be used in areas when permanent beds are unsuitable/impossible so you might look at some of these locations and see if a permanent bed could be installed. Well done Circle K on the colourful planting along the road – simple but effective.
Concluding Remarks:
We were delighted to visit your town, our first in quite a while, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay as we meandered around taking in the sights.
We also enjoyed the view of Castleisland from the beautiful picnic spot on the N21. A few more seats and picnic tables are needed here – something for KCC.
You referenced the Sustainable Development Goals by adding one of the numbers into the application every so often. But tell us why the project achieves/fulfils the goal. Tidy Towns in conjunction with Limerick City and County Council ran a webinar on the SDGs in 2021 and the presentation is worth reading as it will be helpful for your application next year.
The link is : https://www.limerick.ie/sites/default/files/media/documents/2021-03/sustainable-development-goals-helpful-hints.pdf
Thank you for entering the SuperValu Tidy Towns 2022 competition.
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