Westport Quay to get facelift

Facelifts planned for Octagon and Quay


Anton McNulty

The Quay area of Westport is due to receive a facelift in the future with plans to make improvements to the street and footpaths along with a proposal to erect a feature in the area.
The improvements for the Quay area along with the Octagon in Westport were outlined to councillors at last week’s meeting of Westport Town Council. The improvements are planned to follow along the same vein as the work carried out on Mill Street and Shop Street with new footpaths and pedestrian crossing.
Simon Wall, Town Architect explained that the Quay area had been neglected for a number of years and described it as a ‘sea of tarmac’ and needed a lift.
“The junction near the Helm is just a vast sea of tarmac and the first thing you see is open undefined space. We are looking to tidy it up and regularise it and it could also do with a feature there to lift it,” he explained.
He said the carriageway through the Quay was too wide and planned to extend the footpaths out while the road between Westport House and the Idle Wall was too narrow for two-way traffic and they intended to widen it.
Mr Wall said the next phase of work was going to be around the Octogan with proposals to put in pedestrian crossings between Aisling Crafts and Dunnings Pub and another between Cobblers Bar and Desmonds. He said there were proposals to designate outdoor seating areas which would not impede pedestrians while they also planned to carry out repairs to the plinth.  He added that trading areas would also be marked out in order to avoid confusion.
Martin Keating, Acting Town Manager said that they will go through the proposals with business people and residents and hoped to go to Part 8 planning by the end of the summer. He said the Part 8 for the Quay should take place later in the year.
The redevelopment of the Quay was largely welcomed by the councillors who commented that it had been forgotten compared to the main part of the town. Cllr Brendan Mulroy commented that at the moment the first impressions of the Quay would not entice a visitor to stay.
“The Quay is a big challenge and I agree that first impressions last. When you get to the end of the railway walk I’m surprised at the amount of people who turn around and go back into town and a lot of people don’t know the Quay is there. It would need to be signposted and get a bit of PR work,” he said.
The proposed development on the Octagon was met with mixed reaction with both Cllr Ollie Gannon and Cllr Myles Staunton questioning if the scale of the work would take away from the ‘enhancement’ of the area.
“The jury is out” explained Cllr Staunton. “Perhaps less is more because the Octagon is a special and unique part of Westport.”