Newtown Town Team Get To Work

Newtown, yesterday. Around teatime.

atest press release from the Newtown Town Team, issued on Thursday, January 30th 2025…

Newtownmountkennedy Town Team JAN25

A town team was formed for Newtown on November 18th last in the Parkview Hotel and are now meeting on a monthly basis.

This positive step for the town was facilitated by Wicklow County Council and followed on from several information sessions and an expression of interest process, both of which were open to all members of the public.

The town team is comprised primarily of local residents, with support from local elected members of Wicklow County Council and members of An Garda Síochána stationed in Newtown.

The Town Centre First policy was launched by the government on 4th February 2022. It was set up to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and to transform town centres into viable, vibrant, and attractive spaces for people to live, work, and visit, while also serving as hubs for services, social, cultural, and recreational activities.

The Town Centre First policy lays the foundation for each town to develop, at a local level, their own plan-led path forward. This is expressed through a tailored plan which is underpinned by a clear diagnosis of local strengths and challenges. This plan will be driven by the local community and businesses who are represented on the Town Team and will be supported by the Town Regeneration Officer and technical expertise within each Local Authority.

The Newtown Town Team currently includes the following six working groups: Community, Education & Youth Services; Culture & Built Heritage; Economic Development & Tourism; Natural Environment & Biodiversity; Public Spaces & Streetscapes; Sports & Recreation. Each working group nominated two of their members to the Town Team Executive Committee. Officers of the committee including the Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and Public Relations Officer were elected by this committee. Jen Quinn, who is chairperson of the local Tidy Towns group, was elected as the first chairperson of Newtown Town Team. The working groups of the Town Team are open for anyone resident in Newtown and new members are being urged to join.

If you are interested in joining, please email here. [email protected]

“This is a really positive development for the town,” said local Councillor Danny Alvey, who sits on the executive committee of the town team. “I want to thank Stephen Clarke, our Town Regeneration Officer in Wicklow County Council, who has done a huge amount of work facilitating the formation of this new Town Team and Huw O’Toole, a local community activist, who has championed this idea for many year. There is a great variety of local residents who have joined all of the working groups, each with diverse skills and experiences of already volunteering with local community groups. Newtown is a town that has grown exponentially in the past few years and the town infrastructure and placemaking is struggling
to catch up with this. However there is also huge potential to make this a great place to live and work, and the development of an attractive town centre will be key in this. I really urge anyone living in the town, with one free evening a month and an interest in any of the working groups, to please get involved – especially those in the recently built estates, this is your community now too and only together can we make it a great place for us all.”

Councillor Shane Langrell is also a member of the executive committee and said: “I am delighted to see the establishment of the Newtown Town Team, a significant step forward for our community. As a member of the executive committee, I look forward to collaborating with local residents and elected officials to address the needs of the town. This initiative, supported by Wicklow County Council and aligned with the Town Centre First policy, aims to revitalise underused properties and spaces, making our town more inviting and functional.

“I encourage all residents and local businesses to get involved and share their ideas to make Newtown a vibrant place to live, work, and visit.”

Pictured in the cover photo from left to right: Shane Stokes, Grace Garde, Brian Purcell (PRO), Ruth Prenderville, Sarah Flynn, Tina Donohoe, Jen Quinn (Chairperson), Eva Kearns, Kevin Graham (Secretary), Cllr Danny Alvey, Dominic Leech and Gary Kelly. Not pictured: Cllr Shane Langrell, Garda Lorraine Heffernan, Sarah Gregory and Ciara Martin.