Limerick Northside and Cappamore awarded Age Friendly Town status

LIMERICK, Ireland - Dec. 17, 2013 - PRLog -- The Northside of Limerick City and Cappamore are amongst 15 towns, villages and neighbourhoods across Ireland to have been awarded ‘Age Friendly Town’ recognition.

The announcement, which was made at a seminar in Limerick yesterday (Monday, 16 December) on ‘Building Age Friendly Towns’, comes less than a week after the launch of the Limerick Age Friendly Programme.

The Age Friendly Towns (AFT) project, a sub-programme of the Counties Programme, is aimed at examining how the concept of age-friendliness would work in a more geographically defined area, with a stronger focus on service responsiveness and delivery.

This week’s seminar was opened by Jan O’Sullivan, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, and was attended by more than 70 representatives from across Ireland, including local authority staff, planners, engineers, community officers and those involved in the Age Friendly Towns process.

The primary focus of the event was to look at how collaborative planning can improve the quality of life of older adults and make Irish towns and neighbourhoods more age friendly. There was also a Recognition Ceremony held for the 15 towns that have completed the Age Friendly Towns programme.

Minister O'Sullivan acknowledged that as Ireland's population ages it poses “challenges and opportunities” to service providers in how they provide their services to meet the changing population trends. She also welcomed the participation of Cappamore and Limerick Northside in the Age Friendly Towns programme, and said she “looked forward to seeing the achievements of the Plans as they are rolled out.”

The Plans have been developed following an extensive consultation process with older adults in Cappamore village and the Limerick Northside area, comprising Thomondgate, Kileely, Ballynanty, Moyross, Ennis Road and Clancy Strand.

“The participation of all the community, but especially older people in the project, has been central to the development of the Age Friendly Towns Plans for Cappamore and Limerick Northside,” explained Conor Skehan, Chairman of the Housing Agency, one of the co-organisers of this week’s seminar.

Mr. Skehan added that the needs of an ageing population should act as a guide in planning sustainable cities and towns as Ireland moves from primarily rural to urban living.

“Ireland is now at a unique social and demographic crossroads. CSO figures show that by 2028 the majority of the population will live in urban areas, with the majority of these being in Leinster. Irish people are living longer than ever, and changing age profiles bring up all sorts of new housing and community requirements. By 2028 Irish people will expect drastically different communities in which to start families and live out increasingly long and active lives. I urge planners to use the suitability of urban areas for ageing populations as the best yardstick by which to assess suitability and sustainability for all,” he added.

The Age Friendly Towns plans for Cappamore and Limerick Nortshide were overseen by steering committees made up of Limerick City and County Councils, state sector, older adult participants and community, and voluntary bodies present in the areas. The consultation and plans were undertaken by graduate planners Jason Sheehan (Cappamore) and Michael O'Sullivan (Limerick Northside).

The Plans for both areas are in the final stages of drafting and will be submitted to the Alliance (the steering committee for the Limerick Age Friendly Programme) for its endorsement in the New Year.  The plans will be rolled out from 2014 onwards.

The Age Friendly Towns Programme is a partnership between the Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme (www.agefriendlycounties.ie), the Irish Planning Institute, DIT and Alzheimer’s Society Ireland (dementia friendly communities) and is an integral part of the WHO’s global Age Friendly Cities Programme.