Irish Times on regional capitals: Waterford (today)

merlante

If you read the Irish Times on an any way regular basis, today is one of those very rare moments where you will find decent coverage of Waterford. They're doing a 'supplement' (one page) on the regional capitals of Ireland ever day this week.

I read the Cork, Limerick and Galway ones over the last couple of days and they were ok, but the Waterford one today does not float my boat at all. Once again the IT has shown how little they really know about Waterford and how little interest they have in understanding how the city ticks. For example in the Limerick and Galway articles they talk about investment, jobs, universities, student numbers, commuting problems, etc. Whereas with Waterford they talk about old towers, nice revamped streets and how **** the quay looks with that carpark. (fair enough on the last point)
I almost expected them to start talking about hurling...

They even have time to elaborate on the lunatic views of one Brendan McCann who is the scourge of all development in Waterford.

There's one on Sligo tomorrow and I'm guessing the tone and content of that article will bear more similarities to Waterford, as Waterford one does to the Galway or Limerick ones. Having said that, for those who don't hate the IT and are not fully up to date on goings on in Waterford, it would probably make an interesting read.

ToxicPaddy

It really amazes me how little these people know when the go to write articles
like this. Most do little or no research and Im convinced that all they do is ask
their mates..

"anyone here know anything about Waterford?"

Based on the replies they then proceed to write an article which does nothing
to either enhance the image of Waterford or promote it in anyway to anyone.

Tox

KevIRL

(article from today's Irish times split into 2 parts)
Pt 1

Lopsided development has hampered Waterford's attempts to show off its
best assets that front onto the River Suir, writes Frank McDonald.

Waterford is like "a bird with one wing", as the city council's senior
planner John Andrews puts it - the entire city centre and most of the
suburbs are located on the south bank of the River Suir, behind what was
once described as "the noblest quay in Europe".

Like Limerick, Waterford is constrained by an artificial boundary, which
takes in barely more than a sliver of the Suir's north bank and even
bisects the Ard Rí Hotel, that eight-storey slab that was plonked on
Sion Hill in the late 1960s. Not far beyond the church in Ferrybank, is
Co Kilkenny.

The rapidly-developing suburb of Abbeylands, less than two miles from
the centre, is in the "Waterford Environs", and is administered by
Kilkenny County Council's rural-based Pilltown area committee. "Welcome
to County Kilkenny - Twinned with Leicestershire", says the big sign on
the N25 as you approach the area.

A 1999 move by the city council to extend the boundary into Co Kilkenny
received cross-party support, but ran into unanimous opposition from
Kilkenny County Council.

The Kilkenny TD Mr Liam Aylward, of Fianna Fáil, said it would be a
"foolish Minister" who would try to implement it in the absence of
agreement.

Though there are good relations between the two authorities, Waterford
City Council has appealed against Kilkenny's decision to approve a major
shopping centre at Abbeylands. As custodian of Waterford, the council
fears this scheme would undermine its role as the south-east region's
retail core.

The developers, Deerlands Ltd, had lobbied for the site to be zoned as a
district centre, rather than merely a neighbourhood one, and Kilkenny
County Council duly obliged. Ironically, it was sold to Deerlands by the
city council, which now sees the plan to develop it as a
"mini-Quarryvale" in the making.

Hundreds of houses have already been built in Abbeylands - and at eight
or 10 dwellings per acre, it's as if the 1999 Residential Density
Guidelines didn't exist. Altogether, permission has been granted for
1,200-1,400 houses in the area, even though the road off which many of
them are built is inadequate.

Both Waterford City Council and Kilkenny County Council subscribed to a
1998 strategic framework plan for the city's expansion on the north bank
of the Suir and also to the recently-adopted Waterford Planning, Land
Use and Transportation Study, which endorses this approach.

PLUTS, as it is known, was drawn up in the context of Waterford's
designation as a "gateway" under the National Spatial Strategy.
Significantly larger than any other urban area in the south-east, it is
the region's natural capital - and the city council is determined to
keep it that way.

Four years ago, when Prof John FitzGerald of the ESRI queried why Galway
was "the Irish success" in terms of growth and Waterford was "the
failure", the former city manager Eddie Breen said that continued growth
"will make us the new Galway" - though that would not necessarily be a
good thing.

A survey at the time found that average incomes in the south-east were
79 per cent of the national average, unemployment was marginally higher
and only 24 per cent of the city's population had a third-level
qualification, compared to 42 per cent in Galway. A quarter was also
classified as deprived.

Under the Government's decentralisation programme, Waterford is slated
to get 200 employees of the Department of the Environment even though
its headquarters would be located in Wexford; a key figure in this
divvy-up was local Fianna Fáil TD, Martin Cullen, its political boss at
the time.

The existing Government office block at the head of Bridge Street, a
previously nondescript 1980s building, has been transformed into a
colourful flagship of Merrion Street's rule by Kilkenny architects
O'Donnell Dalton. But it couldn't accommodate 200 more staff, so another
block will be needed.

Waterford's largest office building, which rises to seven storeys at the
edge of People's Park, is called Maritana Gate after the 19th century
light opera; it is also prominently located at one of the entrances to a
city which hosts an international light opera festival annually at its
very fine Theatre Royal.

What makes Waterford unique, however, is the survival of so much of its
medieval fortifications. Reginald's Tower, on the corner of the quay, is
the largest and best known of six mural towers. Extensive lengths of the
city walls are still upstanding, even if they only mark the boundaries
of modern gardens.

The current city plan, adopted in 2002, says the towers and walls
"represent an outstanding legacy of the city's history...a unique
resource for residents and visitors alike". Yet Waterford is
underperforming in attracting tourists; as PLUTS conceded, it is seen as
a "pass-through" point rather than a destination.

That's one of the reasons why Michael Brennan and Brendan McCann, two
lecturers at Waterford Institute of Technology, have objected to some of
the developments being planned for the city - particularly if there is
any encroachment on the walls, which they believe should be developed as
a tourist trail.

Last August, they were attacked by two local developers, John Brady and
George Wadding, who described the two lecturers as "serial objectors"
who had continually sought to disrupt and delay important developments
that are vital to securing the economic stability of Waterford and its
environs.

Apart from appealing against two schemes for O'Connell Street in which
they are involved, Mr Brennan and Mr McCann had also held up a major
development at Railway Square - site of the old Tramore line's terminus
- where a mixed use scheme of apartments, offices, retail units and
cineplex is being built.

Standing on the nearby bridge over St John's River, Brendan McCann
pointed out that the construction of this complex would obliterate an
important view of three of the city's towers - the French Tower, the
Double Tower and the Watch Tower - and sections of upstanding medieval
wall between them.

As a result of their appeal, An Bord Pleanála effectively ordered a
re-design, mainly to improve the amenities of residents of the 100-plus
apartments and to make provision for a riverside walkway; this will
hopefully be more useful than the flimsy efforts made by two other
developers in the vicinity.

"We're not professional objectors," Michael Brennan insists. "What we're
concerned about are the missed opportunities to get things right."

KevIRL

Brendan McCann, who is a member of the Green Party, says: "It's the
context that is being lost. People may look at all this quite
differently in 50 years' time."

Waterford has seen at least 400 apartments built, most successfully
around Scotch Quay. But many of the schemes, particularly those being
packed into narrow streets east of the Franciscan church, just about
meet minimum standards. "No families could live in them," according to
Michael Brennan.

Where the city scores is in the quality of its paving and street
furniture. John Roberts Square, named after the architect who designed
Waterford's two cathedrals in the late 18th century, is paved in small
stone setts with limestone water channels and polished stone benches
around a French-style fountain.

Barrowstrand Street, outside the Catholic cathedral, has received
similar high-quality treatment and this is now being extended along the
quay, around its Victorian Gothic Clock Tower. The next phase will be
Broad Street, one of the main shopping areas, which has a genuinely
indigenous character. A millennium plaza, named after light opera
composer William Vincent Wallace, has been installed on the site of
Purcell's cattle sheds on the South Quay; its tented structure provides
a bandstand, though the area is mostly used by skateboarders. Nearby is
a new marina with moorings for visiting yachts.

Other significant projects include the award-winning Waterford City
Museum,housed in a gable-fronted granary on the quay, and the new
Library by Dublin architects McCullough Mulvin, which has also won
awards. The equestrian statue of Thomas Francis Meagher on The Mall
manages to look medieval.

Major employers include Waterford Glass (though its star is no longer
ascendant), Bausch, Lomb, Hasbro and Honeywell. The latter three are
based in Waterford Industrial Estate, which has also recently acquired
Genzyne, a bio-tech company from Boston, housed in a strikingly large
metal clad building.

At nearby WIT, the new library by Andrej Wejchert + Partners provides a
good frontage along the Cork road and will be augmented by new buildings
for nursing education and tourism studies. There are also proposals to
establish a University of the South-East on a new campus to the west.
Many better-paid employees live in new housing estates behind well-built
stone walls on the Dunmore Road, each more "exclusive" than the last.
However, the number of people living in the city went up by less than 5
per cent to 44,564 in 2002, with a further 55,000-plus in its hinterland.

Waterford is now looking to develop the North Quays, extending eastwards
from Rice Bridge, where the wharves have been redundant since the port
relocated downriver to Belview in 1993. The 18-acre site is to go on the
market shortly, now that legal problems with Iarnród Éireann are resolved.

The potential of the North Quays was recognised in 1998 when the Office
of Public Works, where Martin Cullen was in charge, drew up a
"development vision" for the area and subsequently organised an
international architectural and urban design competition which attracted
99 entries from 23 countries.

The competition was won by London-based IDOM UK for proposing "a
deliberate, calm and refined piece of urban structure". It would
incorporate a landmark venue building as well as apartment and office
blocks along the quay front complementing Waterford's scale, with higher
buildings to the rear.

However, just like Cork and its docklands, there must be some doubt
about whether the city will gain sufficient "critical mass" to sustain
such an ambitious development programme, even over a 20-year period.

And if the North Quays need a level of "imported demand", where is this
going to come from?

Waterford is gearing up to host the Tall Ships Race in July 2005 - an
event that local architect Anne Harpur believes will "re-awaken interest
in the river" and focus attention on its quays, which she describes as
"the essential Waterford". She also welcomes the fact that "fresh ideas
are coming into the city".

Six years ago, Anne Harpur was involved in a campaign to prevent Bus
Éireann building a new bus station on the south quays.

And while the completed project is less obtrusive than she feared, the
real danger was that the quays were zoned commercial then and "anything
could have been built there".

The current city plan acknowledges that the quays "form a major element
in the urban structure", and says few cities "can boast the retention of
such a magnificent length of city centre waterfront" while it pledges to
"preserve and protect" its qualities. But what are these qualities, as
the quays stand today?

Most of the strip between the road and the river is owned by Waterford
Port and functions as a surface car-park, with a capacity of 500 cars,
lined by crude railings more appropriate to sheep pens. With the cars
removed and the railings replaced, it could become a linear amenity
space as in Dublin's Docklands.

merlante

ToxicPaddy wrote:

It really amazes me how little these people know when the go to write articles
like this. Most do little or no research and Im convinced that all they do is ask
their mates..

"anyone here know anything about Waterford?"

Based on the replies they then proceed to write an article which does nothing
to either enhance the image of Waterford or promote it in anyway to anyone.

Tox

Even if they gave a damning indictment of the place, at least they'd have to find out something about it. Whereas they just keep coming out with the usual, vaguely optimistic, lukewarm statement of facts as an excuse for coverage.

KevIRL

Another article from today's Irish Times

Not the best city for commuters


A lack of environmental commuting options in the south-east is
undermining Waterford's 'green' credentials, writes Frank McDonald.

A 2002 plan by the Waterford City Development Board aimed to turn it
into "the number one environmentally friendly city in Ireland". It might
start with commissioning a redesign of Rice Bridge, which provides a
most unfriendly introduction to Waterford for anyone on foot.

It's not so great for motorists either, at least not at peak hours.
Every weekday, there is gridlock at the Ferrybank roundabout where
city-bound traffic on the Clonmel and New Ross roads merges before
advancing across the bridge. Only 8 per cent of Waterford's commuters
use public transport.

Apart from one train from Wexford that commuters can use, there are no
rail-based local services - and no plans to introduce them either
because they would need 1,000 peak-period passengers to be viable. Bus
patronage has also declined since 1990, mainly because of rising car
ownership.

Tramore is as much a commuter town as a seaside resort. With a
population exceeding 8,000, it has become the third most car-dependent
community in the State, with 67 per cent of its commuters driving to
work in Waterford. Others come in from Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir,
Dungarvan and New Ross.

Although there is potential to double public transport's share by 2020,
the base is very low. Bus Éireann carries about 2,200 passengers a day
on five routes serving Waterford city while a private operator,
Kenneallys, carries about 1,900 on a single route serving the Dunmore road.

PLUTS, the Waterford Planning, Land Use and Transportation Study
proposes a new cross-city "green route" between WIT and Belview Port,
running via the quays and Rice Bridge, on which buses would have
priority. Consultants are also being appointed to design the city's
first bus lanes.

The availability of parking on the quays explains why Waterford has only
one multi-storey car-park - a hideous structure, clad in corrugated
metal sheeting, behind Michael Street and New Street. This eyesore may
be covered up if plans proceed for a retail development on the adjoining
site.

PLUTS envisages a new bridge across the Suir, linking the north and
south quays, exclusively for the use of pedestrians, as if to make up
for the inadequacy of Rice Bridge. But it is clear that this will only
become a live project if ambitious redevelopment plans for the North
Quays materialise.

Under the South East Regional Planning Guidelines, adopted earlier this
year, the proposed N9 motorway/dual-carriageway linking Waterford with
Dublin is seen as the number one priority for transport investment,
ahead of other road schemes or rail improvements.

The guidelines envisage developing Waterford as a "compact city" of
70,000 (up from about 45,000 today), with a further 50,000 living within
20 minutes commuting time. It would become the hub of a "polycentric
region" involving Kilkenny, Wexford and Clonmel working together (for a
change).

The biggest bugbear to road development in the area is Woodstown, now
known to be the ninth century Viking longphort which pre-dated the
foundation of Waterford. This immensely important archaeological site
lies directly on the proposed route of the N25 Waterford city bypass.

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group has called on the Minister for
the Environment, Mr Roche, to order a full excavation of the Woodstown
site, which has been described by Prof Donnchadh Ó Corráin of UCC as
"the most significant new find in Viking studies in perhaps a century".

Two weeks ago, it was revealed in The Irish Times that the National
Roads Authority was preparing contingency plans to re-route the €200
million road to avoid the Viking site, if requested to do so by Mr Roche
after he receives a final archaeological report on its significance in a
matter of weeks.



© The Irish Times

merlante

Lots of faffing about with green issues and historical stuff.

Very little about Tramore which is now a major commuter town of 8,000 people. They mention that Waterford only increased by less than 5% in the last census, but not that Tramore, Dunmore, South Kilkenny, etc. increased by something like 25%.

No analysis of how critical WIT is to the region or what the student numbers are.

No (very little) talk of the major Waterford issues:
- Second river crossing
- Motorway (terrible existing road)
- Bypass/Ring road
- Radiotherapy

No mention of the waste disposal schemes that are ahead of most of the country. (though they said in the Galway article that Galway recycled more waste than anyone else - I wonder - 3 bins?)

No talk of the inter county rivalry that's weakening the south east.

Unlike with the other cities, there was no real analysis of traffic congestion, the routes which are affected, and the full extent of "greater waterford".

And some stupid reference about Rice bridge looking ****, and we should "fix" it - as if Waterford has access to that kind of money.

Not much talk of Waterford's relatively poor economic performance and lack of political power until recently.

No proper analysis at all. I've seen better articles about other european cities in the Irish Times, that dubs presumably might like to go to on holidays.

fozzle

What a heap of nonsense. The same old spiel about the city walls that's been used for years, and an awful lot of winging about Kilkenny. And yes, we know the development in Waterford isn't balanced, but unlike Dublin, Galway and Limerick, we've got a bloody great hill bisected by the river to contend with. No-one's suprised that Cork's development over their hill on the North side is minimal!

Now what's this they mention about a bus route on Rice Bridge? Have they no idea how much traffic crosses it? And someone please tell me the notion of a pedestrian bridge across the suir is untrue, 'cos I can't see it being used, and do they not think that a road bridge might be a leetle more useful? :rolleyes:

As you say, merlante, no metion of the crazy amount of growth in Dunmore and south Kilkenny.

And I just love how they point out that the only people using the park thingy on the quay are skaters, well no-one else wants it, and there's no-where else for them to go so why shouldn't they? It's not like they're marauding child-eating gangs!

They give out about the lack of rail facilities. Well the only city that has good rail is Dublin! And they don't seem to realise that our railway station is across a bloody big river!

They mention the lack of money that the city has, yet they still expect us to pump money ionto nonsense things like prettying up the bridge!

Gah, these kind of things do nothing but infuriate me. They could at least have gotten factory names right (Bausch and Lomb being one company, not two :rolleyes: )

Re the recycling, merlante, I don't know what it's like in Waterford city suburbs, but I've lived in Galway since before the introduction of recycling there in 2001 and aside from some city centre areas, they do have an excellent recycling service, with the minimum of effort you can recycle 80-90 percent of your waste.

merlante

fozzle wrote:

What a heap of nonsense. The same old spiel about the city walls that's been used for years, and an awful lot of winging about Kilkenny. And yes, we know the development in Waterford isn't balanced, but unlike Dublin, Galway and Limerick, we've got a bloody great hill bisected by the river to contend with. No-one's suprised that Cork's development over their hill on the North side is minimal!

Yeah, why does nobody mention the wide river and the bloody hill as the reason why Waterford has only developed on one side? With no university, motorway, radiotherapy and an airport that wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for cullen, I think we have more things to worry about than having most of the city on one side of a river.

They talk about the scenery because they know nothing about the business or the economic side of Waterford; they treat it like some big town that shouldn't be getting proper high tech industry and investment. We should be planting flowers outside reginald's tower instead.

fozzle wrote:

Gah, these kind of things do nothing but infuriate me. They could at least have gotten factory names right (Bausch and Lomb being one company, not two :rolleyes: )

That is just typical of the shoddy reporting that we are used to from the irish times when they are reporting on places like Waterford, that they are not too bothered about. As soon as you go outside the pale and places like galway or cork, all of a sudden the typos creep in and the facts aren't double checked.

fozzle wrote:

Re the recycling, merlante, I don't know what it's like in Waterford city suburbs, but I've lived in Galway since before the introduction of recycling there in 2001 and aside from some city centre areas, they do have an excellent recycling service, with the minimum of effort you can recycle 80-90 percent of your waste.

Well there are three bins: a normal bin, a recycling bin and a composting bin. I'm not sure what the percentages are like, but I can't see how you could improve on that. Presumably Galway people produce just as much non-recyclable waste as Waterford people. Suffice it to say that both cities recycle a lot of their waste, but only one is commended. In fact they go as far as to say that Waterford is not a green city at all, citing that madman, Brendan McCann as their main source.

This is typical of the irish times love affair with Galway. When the Waterford to Lorient flights were introduced by Aer Arann, the irish times reported that Galway airport had started doing flights to Lorient. I later discovered that the actual route was Galway-Waterford-Lorient (iirc.) but Waterford did not get a mention. I could think of a million other examples.

mike65

merlante wrote:

This is typical of the irish times love affair with Galway. When the Waterford to Lorient flights were introduced by Aer Arann, the irish times reported that Galway airport had started doing flights to Lorient. I later discovered that the actual route was Galway-Waterford-Lorient (iirc.) but Waterford did not get a mention. I could think of a million other examples.

Not just the IT its all the Dublin media. Even AA Roadwatch had to be told we exsited before they included Waterford in thier hopeless traffic reports.

Mike.

DéiseGirl

re the recyling, whenever I'm home I'm impressed with the amount of stuff you can recycle in Waterford. Very little stuff is going into the actual rubbish. When I lived in Stillorgan we had one green bin to last the month and basically only cardboard and tins could go into it. Now I'm in an apartment so the only recycling I can do is bottles & jars...

Having said all that.......recycling is all well and good, but where does all the stuff actually go when it's been sorted? Is it rotting in a pile somewhere in a far off land?

Confused yet?

merlante

mike65 wrote:

Not just the IT its all the Dublin media. Even AA Roadwatch had to be told we exsited before they included Waterford in thier hopeless traffic reports.

Mike.

The Irish Times is particularly bad though. During the floods, they had a big section on Dublin, Cork and Galway. The Galway section faffed about, because there was hardly any flooding in Galway. Waterford was badly flooded but it only appeared as an addendum in a Cork article.

Limerick, which is larger than Galway, always appears subservient to Galway these days, in the IT, ever since the census reported that the "city boundary" population of Galway was larger. Despite the fact that the full extent of Limerick is much larger. It also reported, erroneously, that Galway had overtaken Limerick in the last census, whereas by their own bad metric Galway had overtaken Limerick in the census before that. Simply put, the IT like reporting on Galway: Limerick is an inconvenience and Waterford is an annoying footnote.

RTE is not great either, though not as bad. It is illustrative that every time I go to a Waterford article on www.rte.ie, the url always ends in "waterford.htm", and not "woodstown_viking.htm" or something like that. Waterford articles are clearly the exception rather than the rule.

fozzle

Indeed, the Irish media do seem to have a particular blind spot when it comes to Waterford. Hence the fact that during the flooding I had to ask here about the flooding in Waterford, despite the fact that quite a potion of the city was underwater it wasn't mentioned at all in news bulleteins or in the national papers. And if they do mention the floods in the city (not just this round of them) they give out about the quay not being high enough, when the problem is that no-one will give us the money to dredge the suir or the pill.

merlante

fozzle wrote:

Indeed, the Irish media do seem to have a particular blind spot when it comes to Waterford. Hence the fact that during the flooding I had to ask here about the flooding in Waterford, despite the fact that quite a potion of the city was underwater it wasn't mentioned at all in news bulleteins or in the national papers. And if they do mention the floods in the city (not just this round of them) they give out about the quay not being high enough, when the problem is that no-one will give us the money to dredge the suir or the pill.

In fairness to RTE, they did okay by Waterford during the floods. They reported from Waterford and Dunmore East. The IT was terrible though. Not sure about the other papers.

fozzle

merlante wrote:

In fairness to RTE, they did okay by Waterford during the floods. They reported from Waterford and Dunmore East. The IT was terrible though. Not sure about the other papers.

I stand corrected. I must have just watched the wrong bulleteins. The other papers were brutal too though (get get quite a few in work)

mike65

merlante wrote:

The Irish Times is particularly bad though.

You're right I just remembered an article on the Woodstown bypass dig which put the site in er this Woodstown! Dopes! :Mad:

Mike.

merlante

mike65 wrote:

You're right I just remembered an article on the Woodstown bypass dig which put the site in er this Woodstown! Dopes! :Mad:

Mike.

Heh. I think I even remember an article where they position Waterford in the wrong place in Ireland!

Edinwnfk

hi, some of this is pretty negative, i`m in the uk and was thinking of visiting *********,,,, dare i come, i ask? or will it be the worst holiday of my life????

kensutz

I hate the place, but that's just me growing up here. You can visit the comeraghs if you like scenery or the local beaches. I wonder why ********* was censored????

mike65

kensutz! Play for the team or get off the pitch!

Water-ford is just a typical Danish/Norman/Anglo city of 45,000 lots of coastline, plenty of mountians and rivers. Heck go to http://www.southeastireland.com/ and have a look. On the other hand wait to see if more residents have any thoughts on the matter!

Interesting. someone has fvcked about with the programming. water-ford

Mike.

kensutz

ok ok I really really love the place, just tired of it thats all.

merlante

It is an excelent place to go on holiday, it's just that there are economic and political problems that have to be sorted out.

This won't affect the holidaymaker. There are a plethora of top class attractions in and around ********* city alone and the county is dotted with scenic areas, quaint villages and nice beaches. Lots of cool historical stuff in the museum of treasures and a great tour of the city walls.

btw. everyone in ********* should visit the museum of treasures in the granary. It is seriously (and maybe surprisingly) impressive. I am always surprised at how impressive ********* was in medievel times.