Pedestrianisation of Tuam town centre back on the agenda
The pedestrianisation of Tuam town centre is to come up for debate within Galway County Council over the coming weeks.
It is proposed that one of the main streets through the town be accessible only to pedestrian footfall and that it would be of huge benefit to Tuam businesses.
There are suggestions that the whole of Shop Street in Tuam be closed off to vehicular traffic and become a pedestrian only access.
Officials of Galway County Council have supported this proposal in the past but it has never been progressed.
But now Cllr Shaun Cunniffe will be raising the issue at both the next meeting of Tuam Municipal Council and Galway County Council.
The independent councillor said that assurances were made that the issue of pedestrianisation would be addressed once the ‘big dig’ and bypass issues were resolved.
In the past, senior officials of Galway County Council promised that a pedestrianisation plan would be on the cards for Tuam once the big dig for the provision of water and sewerage infrastructure was completed . . . but this was finished more than three years ago.
It is now being proposed that the whole of Shop Street in Tuam, which accommodates men’s and ladies fashion stores, a shoe shop, travel agency, a garden centre and bank, should be open to pedestrian traffic only.
Cllr Cunniffe said that none of the businesses along Shop Street were stores that sell bulky items so that there is no requirement for on-street parking.
“We have to make the town centre attractive and by providing a pedestrianised street, then we could achieve this.
“It has happened in other towns and we have the infrastructure in Tuam to achieve this. But it also needs the support of the Tuam Management Team who need to be behind such a move.
“We have been lucky with new bypass and motorway but now we have to look at developing the town centre and pedestrianisation seems to be the way forward,” Cllr Cuniffe added.
The issue was raised as far back as 2013 when it was proposed that the town centre in Tuam be pedestrianised. This was at a meeting of Tuam Town Council which has since been abolished.
It was suggested at the time that one of the streets in Tuam be closed off to traffic due to the fact that an inner relief road had been provided.
The issue of the pedestrianisation of Tuam is now to be the subject of a debate within Galway County Council at their January meeting. It is hoped that works on this scheme will commence later in the year.