Roscrea's bright future involves tackling derelict and vacant buildings

ROSCREA'S new Town First Plan, the first of its kind in Tipperary, will have a transformative effect on the heart of the heritage town's centre and tackling dereliction and vacant buildings will be a key objective.

One of the first stages of implementing this new plan was the appointment of a Town Regeneration Officer for Roscrea - a role filled by Áine McCarthy from Tipperary County Council and part of her brief will be identifying vacant and derelict buildings with a view towards resurrecting them and breathing new life into the town centre.

This week Councillor Michael Smith (FF) told the Tribune the Regeneration Officer will identify the owners of the buildings and make contact with them, with an opportunity to learn about what potential funding is available to assist with restoring their building.

"In all my time as a local representative I've never seen as many different opportunities to access funding for bringing buildings back to life and for making ideas about what to do with them a reality", Cllr. Smith told the Tribune.

"One of the key aspects of the new Town First Plan will be tackling dereliction, which has become a problem in Roscrea like so many other towns. Building owners can get an excess of €50k towards restoring a property and Roscrea is the first town in the county with this new way of developing into the future" he said.

Cllr. Smith said he wants to see long-term results for the town from the new Plan, which has ambitious plans for the creation of a new urban street on Gantly Road and one which builds on the foundation of the great work carried out under the Roscrea Enhancement Plan.

The success of the Town First Plan also hinges on the creation of a community led Town Team - which will be made up of individuals and representatives of sporting and cultural organisations to create a blueprint for how Roscrea will develop into the future.

The input from the community through the Town Team, who will work closely with the Regeneration Officer, will inform and steer how the town's long term ambitions are shaped and Cllr. Smith sees this as an opportunity for the younger generation and people of all ages to engage.

"There are a number of groups in Roscrea that could play a great role in coming up with ideas about what could be done with some of the old buildings in Roscrea and ones that are left vacant - like the old Council office on the Birr Road.

"There are so many good ideas and we need to put them all together and make a plan from them - a focused plan that represents everyone's views.

“I hope the young and all the not-so-young people in our community will take part and shape the Roscrea of tomorrow", Cllr. Smith said.