‘Early days’ as consultation on Belturbet Masterplan started

More than 80 people turned out for the first public consultation on the proposed Masterplan project for Belturbet Town. Such was the level of interest that organisers sent away some who attended with a promise more feedback forms probing what the town requires would be made available.

“We’re still only at the earliest stages, it's early days yet,” says Frank Cooney of Dublin’s Cooney Architects who has been tasked with the preparation of a feasibility study for the provision of a community, enterprise and tourism hub for Belturbet.

His scope is to prepare a masterplan for the future development of the Belturbet Heritage Railway Complex also.

He says the two are connected insofar as both projects are embedded in the town itself, but Mr Cooney, a native of Bailieborough, envisions a much broader outlook beyond that if possible.

“There were 50 questionnaires available, because I’ve never run out of questionnaires before, so that was fantastic to see the level of interest that’s there,” says Mr Cooney.

Along with emailing out copies, questionnaires will be available from Belturbet Library from May 9 onwards, and Mr Cooney encourages anyone who has regard for the future outlook of the town to engage.

Last year Cavan County Council received more than €263,000 from the Department of Rural and Community Development to support a proposed two-part landmark project. Considerable work has already been undertaken to transform the Belturbet Railway Station complex since it was purchased in 1994, and the study will also take into account ways to address the issue of vacant buildings locally.

“A feasibility study for the provision of a community, enterprise, and tourism hub in Belturbet. That’s not necessarily at the railway. At this stage we’ve only just started, and at this stage we’re only beginning to look where the best place is to put the various elements of community, elements of enterprise, tourism,” explained Mr Cooney.

An important part of the ongoing conversation concerns properties in the town and their owners.

“An important thing is to get a sense of the place. The first piece is to get an understanding of Belturbet in terms of how it has evolved physically and economically and how it has changed since.”

For that, Mr Cooney is looking to the “backlands” and the prospect of tapping into the potential contained therein.

“All of those have become redundant and one of our biggest challenges will be to look at how that can be regenerated. It is part of the bigger picture and not the main focus of this study, but if this study can inform that, all the better.”