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Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Mayo is planning heritage awards scheme
The broad outlines of the Mayo Heritage Plan have been laid before members of the Mayo SPC on Arts, Culture, Heritage and Corporate Affairs at a meeting on Inishbigil island.
It is proposed to bring the Draft Plan before Mayo County council for their September meeting so that it can go on display for further public comsultation.
It is intended that the Plan will be adopted by the council before the end of the year paving the way for application by the authority to the National Heritage Council for funds to implement a number of projects in 2006.
Ms Deirdre Cunningham, Mayo Heritage Officer, told the meeting there had been widespread consultation with interested parties and there was now an agenda of up to eighty actions contained in the draft proposals.
The Plan deals with the built heritage, the archaeological/cultural heritage and the natural/biodiversity heritage and promotes best practice in heritage preservation.
Ms Cunningham said the public consultation aspect of the process had shown an underawareness and appreciation of what heritage is. When adopted the Plan will be Mayo’s first ever Heritage Plan and will outline the actions to be taken over the next five years.
Included among the actions proposed is an annual County Heritage Awards scheme; a “Golden Mile” scheme that will be the rural equivalent of the tidy towns competition highlighting and protecting the natural and built heritage along the “mile.”
She added that the Draft Plan proposed the holding of a series of seminars on heritage to increase awareness and it will also highlight the importance of the built environment.
Another action proposed is the establishment of Heritage trails and walks and the publication of “guidebooks” to aid the walkers in their understanding of the heritage.
Other actions proposed include the compilation of a record of thatched houses, historic bridges and traditional craftsworkers and the setting up of a Placenames Committee.
Cllr Paddy McGuinness, chairman, complimented Ms Cunningham on her work on the Plan and structured way she had approached the work. The Plan itself would help increase awareness of what the heritage of the county is and also increase awareness of the need to be careful and protective of what is there.
Mr Pat Conway said a key outcome of the Plan was that once it was adopted there would be a centre, a point of contact, where people would be able to get information and guidance in relation to the heritage of their areas.
Cllr Jarlath Munnelly joined in the tributes to Ms Cunningham. The Plan appeared to be very ambitious and certainly would represent a considerable challenge to the council to implement it in full. There was genuine interest among people in the county’s heritage and he was confident they would soon begin to see progress.
Cllr McGuinness said he was particularly interested in the “golden mile” proposal. It represented a great opportunity for people to get roadside hedges in shape and would encourage the laying of hedgerows... a skill that was almost lost.
Mr Joe Loftus, Director of Services, said the preparation of the draft plan was a wonderful exercise in what public consultation should be. They now had a document that would become a working document for the council. It was not a report that would lie on a shelf gathering dust. “It is ambitious,’ he said, “but it should be ambitious.”
He said there was some urgency to have the Draft agreed so it could go before the county council and then on further public display and become council policy before the end of the year.
The meeting agreed to adopt the draft on the proposal of Cllr Munnelly, second by Ms Mary Wrafter.
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