THE Ennis Mobility Plan will come to an end as soon as Government restrictions allow.
The Clare Echo understands that the multi-agency Ennis Mobility Taskforce carry out regular reviews of the plan and an exit plan is likely in the coming months as Government restrictions are eased in line with lower transmission rates of Covid-19. No date has been determined.
It comes as the Ennis Chamber insist that the Ennis Mobility Plan has no relevance to any potential move towards pedestrianisation in the town.
Chamber President Darragh McAllister, who runs two pubs in Ennis, told RTÉ on Sunday that decisions on pedestrianisation being a permanent fixture cannot be made and that the mobility plan was implemented purely to allow for social distancing.
“It was put in as a temporary feature to deal with Covid, and it would be wrong to assume that because it’s there in a pandemic and a lockdown is in any way a sign of how things might be in the future, and it would have to be put to public consultation,” he said.
Tuesday saw the most recent sitting of the Temporary Covid-19 Ennis Town Centre Mobility Plan stakeholder group take place. The group hold their meetings in-camera, a spokesperson for Clare County Council described it as “a positive and productive meeting”. The stakeholder group will last for the duration of the pandemic.
Another meeting is scheduled to take place next week. Mobility stakeholders of the group which was formed in May include all seven councillors in the Ennis Municipal District, the HSE, An Garda Síochána, Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Retail Excellence Ireland, Retailers of Ennis, Better Ennis Vintners Federation, Older Persons Council and disability advocates.
Clare County Council have stressed that the mobility plan was only introduced in response to COVID-19. “The plan is designed to support residents, the business community and all citizens to access Ennis town in a safe, socially distanced environment as the town centre is characterised by narrow streetscapes and interconnected laneways with restrictive footpath widths”. The mobility plan remains a living document “and will be updated and amended in line with risk assessments,” the spokesperson added.
