Lack of parking spaces in Kildare is 'driving people to shopping centres'

The closure of parking spaces in towns across County Kildare is driving people to shop in out-of-town retail centres.

A Kildare County Council meeting was told that parking is being “done away with.”

Cllr Seamie Moore (Ind) also said that at the same time there have not been enough bus services especially services within towns and there has been insufficient investment in car parks outside the towns.

Cllr Moore said that some 120 commercial premises in Naas are owned by 20 people and those people should be consulted, as opposed to the tenants renting the premises.

“We’re talking to the wrong people, “ he said.

Another Naas councillor, Bill Clear (Independent Ireland), bemoaned the number of “vape shops and takeaways,” adding "we're pushing everyone out.”

Kildare County Council has been asked by four councillors to have a study concocted by commercial retail experts in town centres within Kildare.

The Fianna Fáil councillors said the study should produce “a range of potential actions that aim to protect and promote the primacy of town centres with an SWOT analysis of each town.”

They said the information could be used to help draw up the next county development plan.

KCC official Annette Aspell noted that an amount of work has been undertaken within KCC in relation to town centre renewal, regeneration and retail vitality.

She also said that money would have to be found to pay for any new study.