Community Facilities Update

The confirmation in April that Johnstown is to receive funding for Community Facilities was welcomed by all our residents……but what do we actually need and who's going to decide?

The invisible ‘Johnstown Community’ boundary is highly relevant at the moment since the Council has allocated €700k of funding for Community Facilities for ‘Johnstown’. To be spent over the next 4 years this significant amount of funding has been carefully worded to specify ‘Johnstown’ and it therefore needs to be identified on a map.

Read the previous months ARTICLE or review the current MAP.

Is this the Boundary of the Johnstown Community?

Technically the district of Johnstown has a small population in a very small area. The actual 'Johnstown Community' is perhaps more easily expressed by our individual sense of belonging to this area.

This therefore leads us to resolve 4 important issues:

#1.Will a boundary line mean that we’re excluding neighbouring residents including those who are also without Facilities this side of the Boyne River?

In the 1st edition we made an attempt to mark out the Johnstown Community but is it correct and ultimately who gets to decide where this imaginary boundary is? We do have physical boundaries of the roads and river but is it appropriate to use these markers for anything?

Most community facilities are used by those in the entire neighbourhood who have the need for them, without discrimination. I believe this will be the case here too with the facilities to be used by the entire area.

#2. What happens if we do define an area for our Community that has no available buildings or land for these new Facilities?

We are already aware that this is the main issue and stumbling point and that the land and buildings around us are all private property.

Perhaps most of us are expecting to gain access to one single venue but that might not be the practical solution. Does it matter if we end up with a few smaller facilities spread out across a wider area?

#3. What do we actually want?

This is more difficult to answer since we all have different expectations and we have a few thousand opinions and ideas among our community members. A planner wouldn’t be able to cope with this number of clients and therefore the proposal to first hire a consultant is highly appropriate.

Unfortunately when politics and consultants are both mentioned together in the same sentence it is usually followed by an unfavourable tabloid headline but hopefully not in this case. People are right to have reservations and ask questions but ultimately we need to give them the right job description of what they are to achieve.

Source: Meath Chronicle Sunday 29th April, Page 14

Facilitator, Mediator, Middle-Man, Public Relations Officer, Consultant….. there’s many job titles but we’re talking about someone impartial, experienced and knowledgeable in gathering information from a large audience to pass on to smaller action group.

It has been mentioned that in 2006 there was a consultancy period about Community Facilities but although seeing a report on it would be interesting out of curiosity it's 11 years out of date and people and opinions change. In another 11 years there will be around at least 1,000 more residents this side of the Boyne River with valid opinions and should we be planning with them in mind too?

Whatever is decided about a consultancy firm is it fair to say that we need them to gather and translate our community ‘wants’ and aspirations into statements that represent all our real ‘needs’ before we take the next step. We need the designer’s to have brief that is correct at the very start if we’re to avoid a costly mistake and later disappointment.

#4. What can we afford ?

The old Energies Gym was not really a feasible option when you appreciate that it could cost around €1.4 million before the community could set foot inside and use it. Add the +€60k per year management / lease fees and it’s way beyond being realistic.

Former Energie Gym

€700k is a very large sum and a lot can be done with it. To put this money into perspective it could possibly buy three 3 bed Johnstown homes. Unfortunately a house doesn’t lend itself to being a multipurpose community space for a large number of potential users.

We are expecting a playground too but each of us has a different opinion on what exactly these are. Is it on the scale of Tayto Park’s climbing frames or a smaller toddlers play space? What age groups are we catering for and what size of land do we expect to need.

Photo Source. www.taytopark.ie

Outdoor space for older children and adults needs clarifying since an all-weather sports pitch with lighting can cost over €500k plus the cost of the land itself.

Sufficient parking spaces will be required, preferably away from congested residential areas.

Quite quickly our wish list of 'wants' soon exceeds the amount of land and building size that this budget can afford. Realistically we’re starting to appreciate that it’s not a house we need and neither is it on the scale of a leisure centre.

Future funding might come from other sources but if we're asking Meath County Council then we've a battle on our hands, and it's not with the Council but with other towns. They will have a valid argument if they ask how can 'Navan' possibly want more facilities when we already have Rugby, Soccer, GAA pitches, Swimming Pools, Tennis, AstroTurf centres, Play areas, Parks.....etc. They might not be evenly distributed across Navan but how can we compete against towns and villages that don't have as much?

What comes next?

Once the Consultant has begun the process we need each and every resident to participate in order to move this project along and ultimately achieve facilities that our community will not only use but be very proud of.

There are excellent examples of successful facilities created by communities such as The Unity Centre in North Navan but we need to start from the very simple basics: