How could Longford improve??

I'm not exactly sure what kind of shops would do well in Longford silver campaign, at the moment we seem to have our fair share of fast food outlets, bookies offices & two-euro shops & with these being so prominent, its probably all a bit off-putting for any potential entrepreneurs.

We need to look a other ways of attracting different types of businesses to the town.

Is their a Town Plan does anyone know? one where they visualize a goal for the future to work towards, where they might have initiatives like widening the footpaths, maybe even pedestrianize some streets, bury/hide all electric cables, plant trees & shrubbery, (some green is always pleasant) then ensure that landlords of derelict or unkempt buildings are made to keep them to an acceptable standard.

We always seem to be lagging way behind other towns when it comes to using imagination & initiative in bringing new investment & jobs to the town.

quickrack wrote: »

Double the lighting from Main St to Tesco so people are not in fear ,my wife would NEVER walk there after dark even if its busy.

Agreed, Grafton Court should have become a brightly lit shopping thoroughfare that given its central location, would benefit the town greatly if it had a major makeover, especially if it were pedestrianised, however the flats overhead are still gonna be a big issue no matter what's done at street level, perhaps eventually these could possibly be converted to office or business space.

Johnny Fallon – Nobody’s going to help Longford, we have to do it ourselves.



The Irish Times recently ran a story on the top choices for holiday destinations in Ireland. Unfortunately Longford was at the bottom of the list. It’s sad to say but this is probably not something that surprises us. We have become accustomed to such ratings and pass it off with a laugh or a shrug.
I lived in Dublin for 10 years and spent all of that time yearning to be able to move back to Longford. Now, perhaps I’m in a strange group of friends but when I meet people they are always eager to come back and to spend time in Longford. I remember talking with some friends from Cork many years ago who shared a house with another friend of mine from Longford. After spending time discussing the GAA and the relative merits of both counties the Corkonian turned to us and said ‘I have never met fellas so proud of their own bloody county and what’s worse is ye have no right to be boy!’ In a way he, perhaps, summed up the feelings of many from outside the county. He was at a loss to see how we could possibly continue arguing that Longford was better than Cork.
One of the problems with tourism is that you have to work with what you have got. Longford has some real beauty spots but it is not famed like various locations on the West coast, it does not have an abundance of natural resources. The thing is, that’s fair enough if you are aiming to be top of the table, but surely getting off the bottom would be an achievable aim?
Look at a rail map and see how many towns in Ireland have no rail link in them, we were the first county with an indoor heated swimming pool; we have one of the very few viable airfields in the country. We are bordered by the River Shannon presenting immense opportunities that remain untapped, we have lakes and countryside that can certainly rival several other counties that seem to be rated higher simply because they offer more activities.
Once upon a time we seemed to be willing to build and invest, but it would appear that those days have gone. If anything, we simply lack a bit of self belief. When trying to identify investment everything starts with ‘Why Longford?’ surely it should be ‘Why not Longford?’ there is very little the county cannot offer if we put our mind to it.
However, we are in danger of stagnating. For some time now it has been clear that services, opportunities and investments are going to other urban centres in the midlands. We need to address this. County Councillors need to overcome their own political divisions and start to work together at a far greater and higher level to attract investment and provide opportunity. We need ideas and we need them fast. There is no point wishing and hoping that someone in government or elsewhere is just going to hand an opportunity to us, or that investment will just fall into our lap if we talk about it enough. Longford needs to take matters into its own hands. Eamonn Gilmore was under fire in the last few weeks and there is talk of him seeking a more ‘relevant’ ministry. He defended his position by arguing that in Foreign Affairs he has been repairing Ireland’s reputation, attending trade missions and pushing for investment. One wonders who has been doing that for Longford. Where is the plan to save its reputation or to go out among business leaders and actively fight for investment?
There is a lot of work to be done. South Longford is in the unique position of having three of the tidiest villages in Ireland (Abbeyshrule, Newtowncashel and Ardagh) and yet it’s struggling to sell itself as a place where people might want to live if a company invests here. In fact, South Longford possesses the world’s first road in Corlea so perhaps there was an entrepreneurial spirit alive at some stage that thought big and aimed high. At the moment we have a central town that is being choked by traffic, on a busy day you can waste quite a bit of time circling around searching for a parking spot. All the while you may gaze down at the unopened shopping centre. Now, while finding tenants for such a place is a difficult business, you can forgive drivers for wondering why, in a town blighted by a lack of parking, that a multi storey car park is left idle, whatever about the shops.
What we do know is that this time there is nobody going to help Longford; we have to do it ourselves. In the current environment, with every town screaming for investment and jobs, there is no white knight coming to generously give Longford all it deserves. We need far more comprehensive plans, there are business people in our county with plenty of ideas, but they need to be facilitated and that takes vision and hard work. Co-ordinating such efforts is a key part in that process and genuine leadership is required to make people believe in it. I said it before and I’ll say it again, you can keep your Kingdoms, and Banners and capitals, your rivers and hills of this that and the other, you just can’t beat Longford.
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Johnny Fallon is online at http://johnnyfallon.wordpress.com/ and on Twitter @jonnyfallon