Wexford County Council’s Town Centre First Plan has outlined 30-year regeneration for Courtown and Riverchapel, excluding separate projects for a 198-berth marina in Courtown.
Urban improvements in Courtown create all-season spaces with active travel links, while The Parade and Main Street in Riverchapel gain safer crossings, traffic calming, landscape upgrades and community areas.
A green/blue corridor joins the centres via a two-way cycle track, upgraded footpaths, crossings and biodiversity measures, with a coastal and maritime centre planned for Courtown.
Studies assess health, education, recreation and infrastructure needs, alongside traffic management prioritising walking, cycling and public transport over parking and road safety.
Consultations identify gaps in health, youth and childcare services, indoor community spaces, public access to GPs and HSE, plus youth disengagement, with Courtown facing summer tourism reliance and anti-social behaviour concerns.
Councillor Anthony Donohue shared “The marina is the key here, you have to give people a reason to reopen that shop or that pub.”
Pip Breen shared “the marina was of paramount importance and that it, in tandem with the proposed hotel for Courtown, would determine the success of the TCFP.”
Conor Norton shared “An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) refused a housing scheme recently and one of the reasons was the lack of (wastewater) capacity, but with the TCFP we’re talking about 30 years hence.”
Liz Hore shared “We will not get funding if we don’t have a plan, this is our roadmap when applying for those grants.”
