Two visions for the future of Tullamore

Three years into the Second World War, Denis Hegarty, the then City Manager of Waterford , presented a dramatic new blueprint for the future of the City designed by the architect and town planner Frank Gibney.

  In briefing the General Purposes Committee of the City Council, Hegarty said that:

‘It is the duty of the town planner to indicate the maximum potential development of an area and in doing this he must necessarily make provision for items which, examined under the present difficult conditions, may seem visionary and out of reach, but which may be well within the reach of citizens with the return of peace and more prosperous times’

Gibney’s plan was certainly ambitious. While providing for housing and industry, it also sought to deliver a more beautiful city with parks and broad avenues culminating in important buildings, the most prominent being a new cathedral overlooking the River Suir.

The Waterford Plan made a strong impression nationally and Gibney was soon engaged by local authorities all over Ireland to provide inspiring proposals for the future of their own towns in the post-war era. Clearly impressed by the skill he had shown in Waterford, Tullamore Urban District Council asked him to suggest visionary proposals for the County town.Though commissioned in 1945, his plan did not emerge until 1950 and, not unexpectedly, proposed some dramatic initiatives.

A New Avenue

Gibney’s most ambitious proposal was a complete ring road around the town with a link directly into the town centre which would be located midway between the Clara and Kilbeggan roads. This would open up the open lands between and provide a new ceremonial avenue into Tullamore from the north, focussing on the spire of the Church of the Assumption and culminating in a new public plaza where Kilbride Park is today. Harbour Street would be extended westwards to connect into this triangular area which would become the ‘transport hub’ of the town.

It took fifty nine years before the eastern leg of the ring road was eventually delivered. The grand approach avenue never materialised and the only trace of it today is the gap in the Clontarf Road housing which gives access to the Lan Ello and Tihilly housing estates.

A Church in a Park

Gibney’s plans for Waterford, Drogheda, Ennis, Castlebar, Cavan, Navan and Killarney all proposed the construction of a new imposing church or the improvement of the setting of an existing church in order to create a central focus.

Tullamore was to be no exception. Though a magnificent edifice, the Church of the Assumption had been built on a constricted site and was hemmed in by buildings which compromised a full appreciation of its architectural quality. Gibney proposed the acquisition and clearance of all the surrounding buildings, so that it would stand as the very centrepiece of the town in a magnificent landscaped new public park. 

But, despite the power and wealth of the Catholic Church in the 1950s and while it might build many churches,schools and hospitals, it had little appetite for grandiose civic design projects. In any event, the destruction of so many perfectly good buildings along Harbour Street, Chapel Lane, Benburb Street and Store Street was entirely unrealisable in a fledgling democracy with little financial resources. Surprisingly, the idea continued to feature in plans for Tullamore until 1979, when it was quietly shelved.

Apart from the eastern bypass, all that remains today of Gibney’s grand vision are the magnificent regular lines of poplars in the French style on the south bank of the Grand Canal at Kilbride and Whitehall.

A New Vision for 2050

As 2022 begins, we are about to formulate a new vision for Tullamore  which will ultimately be worked out sometime around 2050. Its principles have been formulated at a national level and will now be fleshed out locally.

The  adopted County Offaly Development Plan reflects the policy of Government to encourage the evolution of towns whose inhabitants can access education, local shops, amenities and green spaces within 15 minutes of their homes by walking or cycling and where the need of a car is greatly diminished.This process will be further accelerated in Tullamore by its recent designation as a ‘Decarbonisation Zone’ in which radical environmental  initiatives will be encouraged.

The provision of at least 30% of all new housing within the town centre will be central to this policy. But, if more people are to be attracted to live in the town centre, new facilities particularly parks and playgrounds will be needed. This will require a study of present land usage, particularly  the northern sector of the town which has a high proportion of vacant or underused sites. A reassessment might allow for initiatives such as the conversion of Market Square to a landscaped park and plaza.

These public spaces might then be linked together by a safe and attractive pedestrian route across the environmentally enhanced Tullamore River connecting pedestrianised O’Connor Square to the waterside amenities of the Harbour and then on to an enlarged Kilbride Park. Such a unified civic vision will hopefully feature in the soon to commence Local Area Plan process which will be guided by the broad brush outlines of the recently adopted County Plan. 

  Higher Buildings

As Camilla McLoughlin recently revealed, a major element of the new County Plan will be the encouragement of higher buildings on two specific sites, the Harbour and Tesco. An economic study to determine the best uses for the former is in train and the Council has requested the developers of the latter to deliver a residential component along with greater diversity of uses and density within the context of an overall master plan.

The accommodation of such higher density development deserves an integrated civic design approach for the entire northern side of Tullamore, between the River and the Grand Canal and from the Clara Bridge to O’Carroll Street.This would help to unite all the various future elements of height, public spaces, vibrant streets and landscaping into a coherent composition which would enhance the skyline of the town.

Such a plan can only be prepared by the Tullamore Municipal District Council. The desires of individual land owners or agencies should of course be considered but ultimately it is the Council which must ensure the highest quality of development for the benefit of all, even if it may take some years to deliver it. 

A Wealthy Country

The United Nations recently declared  Ireland’s quality of life to be the second highest on the planet. While our real income is now at least five times greater than it was in 1950, providing sufficient housing for those who urgently need it, is once again a pressing problem. Such excellent schemes as Pearse and Marian Parks and Clontarf Road were delivered in times of relative poverty and we can surely match and surpass their standards today .

The lesson to be learnt from the successes and failures of Gibney’s Plan is that projects which reflect national policies have the best chance of delivery. The Council’s  plans should promote those proposals which not only benefit the town as a whole but also have the best chance of attracting funding. Preparing and pursuing an integrated civic design vision for the town centre based on the principles of sustainability would be wise as it would fit in with the National Planning Framework and therefore have high prospects of delivery. 

And as Denis Hegarty said in 1943, a bit of vision is valuable to stimulate imaginative responses.  We can confidently predict that by 2050 Tullamore will be a more sustainable town, but can it be more attractive, and, dare I say it, more beautiful?