BREAKING: New town centre square proposed for this Kildare town to honour Christy Moore

A new town square has been proposed in the centre of Newbridge.

The site fronts on to the main street and is adjacent to the garda station and Cedral St Conleth’s Park - Kildare’s main GAA venue.

It is partially bordered by the iconic "Newbridge Or Nowhere” wall mural, created when the Kildare senior football team management insisted that Newbridge be the venue for a championship game against Mayo in 2018.

That controversy arose after health/safety concerns were expressed because the Irish Derby was scheduled for the Curragh Racecourse the same day.

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Kildare refused to play in Croke Park instead because they had secured home advantage, according to the draw.Planning consultant Derek Whyte (Whyte Planning Consultants, Newbridge) says the site is underutilised and could become a new town centre square dedicated to Christy Moore “one of Newbridge's most well known artists.”

According to Mr Whyte, it would provide “a much needed, dedicated small town square on the main street, where the lands are currently used as a secondary car park.”

He also said there is the possibility of cooperating with the gardaí “who appear to own a small number of underutilised houses adjacent to the car park.”

Mr Whyte’s submission is part of possible amendments to the local area plan, which will outline the future development of the town.

The town planner said this is “extremely wasteful of scarce land in a large urban town such as Newbridge.”

He said An Garda Siochána own approximately half of the proposed land as an underused car park and some staff housing, which needs modernisation.

He also said there appears to be “numerous future development possibilities for access to the existing houses, through the garda station.”

Mr Whyte pointed out there is adequate car parking beside the site.

He said the existing AGS site “can easily accommodate any further architectural expansion due to the size of the site.”

He said the area is easily “passively supervised” and safe and would lead to an attractive green urban space which would improve Newbridge’s “landscape character.”

Fears of antisocial behaviour could be addressed with a thoughtful design and suitable street furniture.

“Dedicating the area to Christy Moore will attach an identity and sense of place(to the town) and could be used for a variety of social and small public events for the benefit of Newbridge residents.”