Top marks for Cork in litter survey with St Patrick’s Street ‘looking its best ever’
Now we’re talking.
There was more good news for Cork City this week with the publication of the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) report.
According to the survey, Cork City Centre ranks as clean to European norms and significant improvement has been noted in Mahon and on the Northside of the city.
The news comes after Cork City Council announced a new €200,000 fund to help revitalise the city’s main retail street and strengthen its visual appeal. The St Patrick’s Street Shopfront Grant Scheme will help to upgrade and restore shopfronts at street level and will encourage businesses to adopt traditional designs that enhance the historic streetscape.
A total of 22 of the 25 sites surveyed by IBAL in its assessment of the city centre received either a grade A, B or C. A total of 11 As, 11 Bs, and three Cs were issued. No grade D was issued.
IBAL praised St Patrick’s Street and MacCurtain Street in particular, giving both As and noting that St Patrick’s Street is “looking its best ever”.
‘All elements were in excellent order’
“It is some achievement to have such a large and heavily trafficked site in such good shape – well done to all concerned.” IBAL said.
“All elements were in excellent order – paving, stainless steel bollards, seating, tree planting, bicycle parking etc. The wooden seating which surrounded the large planter boxes are a lovely addition. It was very much deserving of the top litter grade.”
IBAL also found that the Lee Banks Walkway was virtually free of litter. Mahon has seen one of the League’s biggest successes, coming from bottom of the table just a few years ago to 18th of 40 towns surveyed.
The marked improvement is the result of both heavy investment in infrastructure, combined with a committed Tidy Towns group.
Cork City Council thanked its staff, including street cleansing teams, RAPID Coordinators and the Community Wardens in RAPID areas, who have worked hard to create the change and said it is continuing to focus on the issues of littering and illegal dumping in order to eradicate this type of anti-social behaviour.
