KILCULLEN: 4 April 2001: by Brian Byrne. The infrastructural requirements of Kilcullen in the face of an unprecedented expansion will be made known to Kildare County Council by the town's Tidy Towns Group soon.
With planning applications and recent grantings of permissions now totalling 1,009 housing units, the group is drawing up an Action Plan to manage and improve the environmental aspect of the town. Several major housing developments are already well under way - the first for a quarter of a century - and the village's population is expected to more than double over as little as three years.
The Tidy Towns Group hopes to meet with Kildare County Council representatives to discuss the issues. In the meantime, work will go ahead under a number of headings. These include landscaping and maintenance projects such as the restoration of the footpath along the Convent wall; a revision of the colour scheme plan for Kilcullen which was first introduced over 10 years ago; and an investigation of all the wildlife habitats in the area.
Discussions have already taken place with Kildare County Council on the possibility of setting up a recycling facility in a central part of the town. "But it must be well run," a spokesman for the group said last week. "We also hope to promote home composting through the provision of subsidised compost bins."