Sligo - News and Views

Gillie

There was a truck outside it over the weekend. A shop fitting company truck so hopefully soon.
The last time I looked into it, it was a shell. That was about a month ago.

Hopefully it opens soon. My wife loves Sasha too!

Gillie

Ah excellent. I found a photo of the site when they had just started construction. The view is from a premises in John Street where I was working. The picture is from February 06 ish.

They've done a lot of work in the wine street side of this building recently. Just there beside kings. Must get a piccie!

magnumlady

Heres a pic of the back of it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnumlady/513676040/

Gillie

Good woman.
Nice looking isn't it?!

Madge

Just read on Ocean's website the Tractech company in Finisklin closed yesterday after 23 years with a loss of 150 jobs, that's a big loss for the town isn't it?

Gillie

Yes. I think the staff new for a while though so hopefully they will find something.

Shame though.

sligobhoy67

Gillie wrote:

Yes. I think the staff new for a while though so hopefully they will find something.

Shame though.

yeah, people have been made redundant from there over the past two years and most saw it coming

Madge

Does anyone know where there are copies of the Sligo Post around? I can't find any in town. Are they in Quayside- though I looked there already.
I thought a copy would be posted in the letterbox?

sligobhoy67

Madge wrote:

Does anyone know where there are copies of the Sligo Post around? I can't find any in town. Are they in Quayside- though I looked there already.
I thought a copy would be posted in the letterbox?

Have you tried the on-line edition - its brilliant! here it is!

I am in this weeks edition but I will spare my blushes and not tell you where

Gillie

Thats a great setup! Shame all papers are not accessible like that on-line!

Madge

sligobhoy67 wrote:

Have you tried the on-line edition - its brilliant! here it is!

I am in this weeks edition but I will spare my blushes and not tell you where

Thanks a million for that sligobhoy
Are you in the out and about section?

Gillie

New plan for Wine Street Car Park submitted...

All the traders in the Wine Street area including Tesco & Penney's and led by the couple who have just built Johnson's Court Mall, have submitted an alternative plan for Wine Street Car Park. This plan differs from the current one submitted by Treasurey Holdings which has been dogged by Planning objections & withdrawls.

The difference with this new plan is that all the traders in the area appear to be on board which is not the case with the original plan.

It includes:
-Enlarged Tesco store of 50000 sq. meters
-Enlarged Penneys store of 60000 sq. meters
-New Mall to link with O'Connell street on the existing Brodericks site
-Multi Story car park for 700 cars built on to the car park planned for Dunnes Stores. Total spaces 1224.
-A food market
-Restaurants & Cafes etc.

They reckon the construction would take four years but would be more benifical as it could be all "done in one go".

There is an artist impression on the cover of the Champion today and I gotta say it looks impressive.

Gillie

Sligo County Council have given the green light for the W2 distributor route which will run from the Caltragh Interchange to IDA business park in Finisklin.

It now has to go before the Borough Council for consideration.

No idea when contruction could/would start.

sligobhoy67

I was at the wedding that was in it - seems its got another page in it again this week (slightly excessive I reckon for hey!)

I know a few people that work at the Sligo Post and they knew the groom also so I reckon thats whats happened there.

I think the on line set up of the SLigo Post is problem the best I have seen anyway - fair play to them

tuppence

Check out the main letter and photo to the editor in the Sligo Champion, today re St Angelas College. (pg 7a) What do ye reckon about how appropriate it is in a heritage site? I have mentioned it before but It looks like a giant ikea, (topical) and yet it managed to get planning.... Its seems sadly ironic that as sligo tries to sell itself as a beautiful place to visit on the back of Yeats, this plight on the countryside is actually obscuring some of the Landmark sites eg Lake of Innisfree. Surely, there is ways of developers having to be accountable and at least have to paint the thing a more subtle colour/ plant some trees etc at the very least now that it is up. Its not just a Sligo/Leitrim thing its all of our national heritage and if we are selfish an income from tourism. Whats yere views from this photo? :mad:

Madge

sligobhoy67 wrote:

I was at the wedding that was in it - seems its got another page in it again this week (slightly excessive I reckon for hey!)

Seen those pics- seemed like a fun party!

sligobhoy67 wrote:

I think the on line set up of the SLigo Post is problem the best I have seen anyway - fair play to them

Yeah it is very good and really handy to be able to read it online

tuppence wrote:

Check out the main letter and photo to the editor in the Sligo Champion, today re St Angelas College. (pg 7a) What do ye reckon about how appropriate it is in a heritage site? I have mentioned it before but It looks like a giant ikea, (topical) and yet it managed to get planning.... Its seems sadly ironic that as sligo tries to sell itself as a beautiful place to visit on the back of Yeats, this plight on the countryside is actually obscuring some of the Landmark sites eg Lake of Innisfree. Surely, there is ways of developers having to be accountable and at least have to paint the thing a more subtle colour/ plant some trees etc at the very least now that it is up. Its not just a Sligo/Leitrim thing its all of our national heritage and if we are selfish an income from tourism. Whats yere views from this photo?

I seen that aswell. "Costa del St. Angelas"- very apt! judging form the photo.
I think the student complexes look awful. It was only natural though that they would be built due to the continuing growth of the college itself.
When the students had no on campus accomodation their commuting expenses must have cost a fortune as the college is a good few miles out of town. So what else could be done

tuppence

Madge wrote:

I seen that aswell. "Costa del St. Angelas"- very apt! judging form the photo.
I think the student complexes look awful. It was only natural though that they would be built due to the continuing growth of the college itself.
When the students had no on campus accomodation their commuting expenses must have cost a fortune as the college is a good few miles out of town. So what else could be done

Its not about argueing the need. i am sure that there was a real one. I would be the first to lobby for students getting a fair deal. Its about how you go about providing for the need for accommodation and building in an area that is of outstanding beauty. If they had a competition so that the students could have designed something, I am sure they would made a better stab at it and its not an architectual college!
I just cannt believe that this design was the best tendered for the job. If it was, how come the council didnt come in and readvertise etc? Surely there should be extreme sensitivity about designs in this type of area. Eg Stipulations that whatever was built should blend in with the natural environment. It looks like it didnt have any type of consideration in regards to height, colour ( a huge one) not to mention the amount of trees they must have felled for the purpose. And now it is done is there anything that can be done? Surely people should not be accepting this it passively? Its not like we got a bad dinner and are sending it back, its a bit bigger than that. Suppose I am wondering is there a protocol on this kind if thing? Our heritage is a long term thing and belongs to all of us that we should be protecting for everyone, for our kids and for our country.
This structure seems woefully shortsighted and extremely reckless for the sustainability of our areas' natural national heritage and tourist potential.

easkey

Gillie wrote:

New plan for Wine Street Car Park submitted...

All the traders in the Wine Street area including Tesco & Penney's and led by the couple who have just built Johnson's Court Mall, have submitted an alternative plan for Wine Street Car Park. This plan differs from the current one submitted by Treasurey Holdings which has been dogged by Planning objections & withdrawls.

The difference with this new plan is that all the traders in the area appear to be on board which is not the case with the original plan.

It includes:
-Enlarged Tesco store of 50000 sq. meters
-Enlarged Penneys store of 60000 sq. meters
-New Mall to link with O'Connell street on the existing Brodericks site
-Multi Story car park for 700 cars built on to the car park planned for Dunnes Stores. Total spaces 1224.
-A food market
-Restaurants & Cafes etc.

They reckon the construction would take four years but would be more benifical as it could be all "done in one go".

There is an artist impression on the cover of the Champion today and I gotta say it looks impressive.

Every 5 to 7 weeks you see another shopping centre for
Sligo on the paper. By now we should have about 20???.
But where are they, Aldi and Argos too name but two.

Gillie

easkey wrote:

Every 5 to 7 weeks you see another shopping centre for
Sligo on the paper. By now we should have about 20???.
But where are they, Aldi and Argos too name but two.

This is one development that has had a history of trouble due to bad planning.
Basically it was all going well until it was revealed that the developers were short about 500 car parking spaces in their plan.
Naturally the Council had a problem with that.

Apparently Aldi are going to be in Tubberbride Business park in Collooney.

Argos were refused permission to go into the Retail Park.

Gillie

tuppence wrote:

Surely people should not be accepting this it passively? Its not like we got a bad dinner and are sending it back, its a bit bigger than that. Suppose I am wondering is there a protocol on this kind if thing? Our heritage is a long term thing and belongs to all of us that we should be protecting for everyone, for our kids and for our country.
This structure seems woefully shortsighted and extremely reckless for the sustainability of our areas' natural national heritage and tourist potential.

Have you seen the plans for Strandhill?:eek:
Absolutely Horrible!
Thank god its been put off for now.
I haven't seen the photo you mentioned yet but will have a look this evening.

Gillie

Gillie wrote:

New plan for Wine Street Car Park submitted...

All the traders in the Wine Street area including Tesco & Penney's and led by the couple who have just built Johnson's Court Mall, have submitted an alternative plan for Wine Street Car Park. This plan differs from the current one submitted by Treasurey Holdings which has been dogged by Planning objections & withdrawls.

The difference with this new plan is that all the traders in the area appear to be on board which is not the case with the original plan.

It includes:
-Enlarged Tesco store of 50000 sq. meters
-Enlarged Penneys store of 60000 sq. meters
-New Mall to link with O'Connell street on the existing Brodericks site
-Multi Story car park for 700 cars built on to the car park planned for Dunnes Stores. Total spaces 1224.
-A food market
-Restaurants & Cafes etc.

They reckon the construction would take four years but would be more benifical as it could be all "done in one go".

There is an artist impression on the cover of the Champion today and I gotta say it looks impressive.

Here are the pictures in the Champion.

Thoughts?

AlmightyCushion

Gillie wrote:

Here are the pictures in the Champion.

Thoughts?

Wow looks good . How many parking spaces were the council looking for?

Madge

tuppence wrote:

Its not about argueing the need. i am sure that there was a real one. I would be the first to lobby for students getting a fair deal. Its about how you go about providing for the need for accommodation and building in an area that is of outstanding beauty. If they had a competition so that the students could have designed something, I am sure they would made a better stab at it and its not an architectual college!
I just cannt believe that this design was the best tendered for the job. If it was, how come the council didnt come in and readvertise etc? Surely there should be extreme sensitivity about designs in this type of area. Eg Stipulations that whatever was built should blend in with the natural environment. It looks like it didnt have any type of consideration in regards to height, colour ( a huge one) not to mention the amount of trees they must have felled for the purpose. And now it is done is there anything that can be done? Surely people should not be accepting this it passively? Its not like we got a bad dinner and are sending it back, its a bit bigger than that. Suppose I am wondering is there a protocol on this kind if thing? Our heritage is a long term thing and belongs to all of us that we should be protecting for everyone, for our kids and for our country.
This structure seems woefully shortsighted and extremely reckless for the sustainability of our areas' natural national heritage and tourist potential.

Yes I said it does look bad, but how would you have designed them? There's hundreds of appartments and also a shop (I think). At the end of the day it's better that Sligo gets this development as it will encourage more students into the town and thus more revenue. As for the tourism side, do many people actually visit Lough Gill and the surrounding areas? Whenever I was there, there was never that many tourists around!

tuppence

Madge wrote:

Yes I said it does look bad, but how would you have designed them? There's hundreds of appartments and also a shop (I think). At the end of the day it's better that Sligo gets this development as it will encourage more students into the town and thus more revenue. As for the tourism side, do many people actually visit Lough Gill and the surrounding areas? Whenever I was there, there was never that many tourists around!

Look it, the three blind mice could have done a better job on that design than what was done in regards to blending it in with its natural environmnent!
We can'nt view everyting on short term issues like visitor numbers and economics otherwise the world would be a very sad place. Mind you with the Corrib gas field and Tara road plans Fianna Fail have been trying to make it so. if this were an issue of housing the students near the college in a space thats got the environmental senstivity of a gaint Ikea in an area of outstanding beauty versus susidising them in accomodation elsewhere if needed I know where my vote would lie. But it didnt need to be that drastic. There could have been the potential of a design that was compatible with its environement ie Flater, subtle colour (ie NOT WHITE!), and perhaps with an eco friendly theme. Anyway the bottom line is I am not an architect and that is why they send these things out to tender so that people compete against each other and supposedly come up with a good design. I wonder what their cretera was?
Fundamentally its about our heritage. Sligo prides itself so much on its past associations with Yeats and we are blessed with our scenary. It was the lake isle of Innisfree that inspired so much of his early work. This is a tremedous part of our local and national heritage. It fundamentally is our responsibility to preserve this for ourselves and for future generations. If our local representatives on our behalf cause injury and damage to it we have a duty to speak up.
Gilly and madge (its not an anti student thing) I hope you write a letter of support to that person who wrote in. I know I am. At least you feel we did something.

Madge

tuppence wrote:

Look it, the three blind mice could have done a better job on that design than what was done in regards to blending it in with its natural environmnent!There could have been the potential of a design that was compatible with its environement ie Flater, subtle colour (ie NOT WHITE!), and perhaps with an eco friendly theme.

Lol! Yes you are right.

tuppence wrote:

Anyway the bottom line is I am not an architect and that is why they send these things out to tender so that people compete against each other and supposedly come up with a good design. I wonder what their cretera was?

Sadly it's all about money, not what is the best for the county

tuppence wrote:

Gilly and madge (its not an anti student thing) I hope you write a letter of support to that person who wrote in. I know I am. At least you feel we did something.

It won't make a difference. Best bet is to talk to a councillor or something?

tuppence

[QUOTE=Madge

It won't make a difference. Best bet is to talk to a councillor or something?[/QUOTE]


Madge ure right about the political representatives. I did mention it when they were knocking, but none of the ones I mentioned to got in but its still there! The way I read it is that it is good for all of us to get involved at whatever level we can. Even something as small as a letter gets a measure of public opinion for them. Sometimes the media appears to be listened to more (if you go on the likes of Joe duffy etc) so its all worth a shot. If we all stand around waiting for others to do it they either make a hash of it (like the situ thats just happened) or it never gets done! I have been very late coming to this conclusion call me trusting or naive, always thought the royal "they" would have our best interests at heart. Doh!

tuppence

sligobhoy67 wrote:

I know a few people that work at the Sligo Post

Well Hello Sligobhoy! Do they read the Sligo Champion?! You must bring them for a scenic drive around Lough Gile this weekend.

magnumlady

I see on the front page of The Champion that the new shopping centre will be open in August.
I can't say I'm too impressed with the shops listed that will be there:
Peter Mark, H. Samual (which we already have), more clothes shops and
coffee shops.:(
The only shop that I'm looking forward to is Virgin.

Gillie

magnumlady wrote:

I see on the front page of The Champion that the new shopping centre will be open in August.
I can't say I'm too impressed with the shops listed that will be there:
Peter Mark, H. Samual (which we already have), more clothes shops and
coffee shops.:(
The only shop that I'm looking forward to is Virgin.

Looking forward to Virgin too. Was hoping for an M&S.

Gillie

By the way tuppence. Was driving from Manor to Sligo "the back way" and seen the apts at St. Angelus. Sweet Jeebus! What were they thinkin?

Such a monstrosity! Nearly feckin crashed when I saw it!