A call has been made on Cork City Council that a Coal Quay Stakeholders be created to bring together the various traders and residents on this historic street. Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has made the call following some discussion between stakeholders on the street; “It is clear that some plans by different stakeholders are similar but others are not aligned; there are tensions on the street between the aspirations of the traditional traders and the larger restaurants and pubs on the street. A lot more harmonisation of ideas needs to take place, a lot more joined up thinking”, noted Cllr McCarthy.
The City Council Executive recommended that the setting up of Cllr McCarthy’s call for a Coal Quay Stakeholders Forum be postponed for the short terms and be reviewed again when present initiatives have concluded. Replying to Cllr McCarthy at the City Council’s recent planning functional meeting with councillors, the Director of Services Pat Ledwidge detailed that in 2014 the City council published the City Centre Strategy and subsequent yearly action plan. A key part of this has been the division of the City Centre into Quarter Areas and the assignment of a Quarter Champion and Area Planner to each area. The Coal Quay/ Cornmarket Street is part of the North Main Street and the Marsh character area/character.
Over the past 12 months the Quarter Champion, Area Planner and City Centre Co-ordinator have met on numerous occasions with representatives of the residents and businesses on the street. Part of this process has been together all of the various needs of these stakeholders with a view to building up key networks on the street, which will inform and facilitate the future development of the street. Mr Ledwidge noted: “The process has worked well to date and will be continued going forward. It would be appropriate to allow this process to move towards a logical conclusion prior to engaging in any other local initiatives”.
Cllr McCarthy responded: “it is important that each of the stakeholders gets to listen to other stakeholders. The removal of tensions around the future of trade on the street, securing the vibrancy of the street should be ultimate goals, whilst drawing on an enormous heritage. There is massive scope to really push more the market feel on the street, which would be a real shame to lose. It is the DNA of this three-hundred-year-old street and should be woven into its future”.