Limerick council sets out €1 billion spending plans to 2025
LIMERICK CITY and County Council has set out plans to spend more than €1bn on big local projects over the next three years.
At this year's local authority budget meeting, members approved capital expenditure in a variety of different schemes across Limerick.
These will be funded through a number of different methods including governmental grants, loans, and planning fees paid by developers upon securing planning permission.
Among the projects set to be funded are a city-wide horse centre, which is earmarked for €2.5m funding by 2025.
Cash is being pledged for housing schemes, including nine units in Ballylanders, 18 in Broadford, 31 in Adare, 12 in Knocklong, and eight in Ardagh.
Eight new units are being planned for McGarry House, run by the homelessness charity Novas in Alphonsus Street in the city centre.
And €4.7m is being set aside for Traveller accommodation at Toppins Field on the southside of the city.
Some €2.3m is budgeted for the refurbishment and maintenance of homeless emergency accommodation, the council stated.
And the local authority will spend €113m on so-called 'part five' acquisitions.
Under planning law, any private developer must set aside 10% of its properties for social housing, which is what these will be used for.
In total, council has outlined spending of almost half its capital budget - more than €477m - on housing and building.
A total of €60m is projected to be spent on the Limerick to Foynes road scheme up to 2025.
Approved by An Bord Pleanala earlier this year, the project will see traffic removed from Adare village - often a bottleneck at rush hour - and is seen as crucial to the logistical planning for the Ryder Cup which is now less than five years away.
Elsewhere, €1.2m is being set aside for a feasibility study for the development of the Mackey Roundabout in Annacotty.
A crucial junction, it links up to the M7, the main road into Limerick city, and the old Dublin Road.
Work will continue on the Coonagh to Knockalisheen distributor road, with €23m in the budget for that.
There's €12m pledged for the M20 Limerick to Cork motorway with the preferred route for the link published earlier this year.
In the New Year, the National Transport Authority (NTA) will open a consultation on the future of Limerick's urban bus network.
It will pave the way for the BusConnects project to be introduced in the region, in a move which transport bosses hope will improve reliability of buses locally.
Some €17.5m has been granted for this project between now and 2025.
A total of €15m is being pledged to the Limerick Greenway project's continuation to Abbeyfeale.
Abbeyfeale is also getting €100,000 to improve its town centre. It comes after it was revealed the border town had one of the highest vacancy rates in Ireland earlier this year.
While €825,000 is to be pledged to tackle dereliction and vacancy over the next three years.
Building of the biggest public project in the city, the Opera Centre, took a big step forward this year, with many of the original features of the old Granary removed.
Some €125m is planned to continue this work, with a 2026 completion date expected.
Almost €19m is in the budget for the King's Island flood relief scheme in the city, and community playgrounds are to be developed across the county with €225,000 projected spend on this. On top of this, a new sensory garden is planned for Adare.
An Irish Aerial Creation Centre is planned, with €250,000 for that.
The city's only municipal golf course at Rathbane is being given a refurbishment, with €120,000 in the pot for that.
And Limerick's tourism web site, www.limerick.ie will see an investment of €90,000