The Butts Town Team held a tidy estate event recently. All volunteers met at 19 Pearse Street, the community house which is open to everyone three mornings a week. Marie Smith, the community liaison officer, works from this community space and all are encouraged to drop in and say hello. This wonderful venue is used to share and discuss suggestions for the Butts’ regeneration project.
The streets and green areas in the community were the target for these eager bunch of volunteers. The sports area of the community, the Water Barrack’s soccer pitch and handball alleys, which have seen no upgrade or development in many many years despite the huge willingness of the community for this to happen. Most in the community see sport as a way of keeping the younger generation on a healthy positive path in life, with great social connections to their friends and their community and to their overall social health.
There was lovely energy on display by all and the weather was even glorious. And of course, what also helped was the ‘cuppa’ and the treats after some great volunteering. There was plenty of laughter and chats during the tea break with a great community feeling and spirit to the morning. Speaking to The Kilkenny Observer, the group of volunteers paid thanks to all who supported the morning, and were keen to point out that this event was the first of many.
Butts Regeneration Project:
Funding of €850,000 has been made available for a comprehensive regeneration plan for the Butts area in Kilkenny City. The need to review fully the structures, services and amenities in the area has been raised by residents and local elected representatives for many years, and officials of Kilkenny County Council submitted a proposal to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which has now been successful.
The funding will allow the local authority to carry out a detailed assessment of the area and to engage fully with residents to determine what measures could best benefit the community now living there.
The Butts Community is one of the oldest, estate type communities in Kilkenny City and was built at a time when families didn’t have cars, work was close by and large rear gardens grew vegetables. If constructed today, it would most likely be designed very differently to meet the requirements of modern family living.
Funding in the amount of €850,000 has been made available to prepare a detailed plan of actions for the Butts area regeneration and preparations to begin that process are under way.
The Butts Town Team is made of multiple sub committees – elderly, sports, education, housing, traffic, heritage, youth and estate management. The Butts community has made a huge effort in setting up the Butts Town Team as part of the regeneration programme for the Butts community. All sub committees have a chairperson who put themselves forward and were elected by their community. There is a chairperson over all the sub committees, elected by the community.
All sub committees’ members are engaging with the community, and they are very aware of the importance that the voice of the Butts community is at the centre of any developments in their community.
Chairpersons of the sub committees are meeting via Zoom with the VHA consultants. On the 6th of November there will be a community consultation with the VHA consultants in the neighbourhood hall. People from the community are urged to attend. If you would like to get involved in any of these sub committees contact your community reps.
