David McWilliams has a genius for coining a phrase, so that whenever we talk about town centre retail we just need to call it the 'Dalkey Dilemma' from now on. He was talking on RTE Radio 1 today following his article in the Irish Independent http://bit.ly/bqntMm. Its very welcome that a high profile, media friendly figure can highlight this pressing crisis: - the death of the mainstreet. He is entirely right that the response needs to be grass route led. The people who need to be making decisions, are the ones whos livelihoods are on the line.
However, any response needs to be seriously organised, professional, and full-time. Traders don't have the time, and while have plenty of good ideas, they may not be the right ones, at a particular time, or geared to the particular challenges of of a village. DunLaoghaire Rathdown Co. Co. brings in millions of euro in commercial rates from Dundrum Shopping Centre, and Carrickmines Retail Park - the retail centres the Council permitted. This income needs to be reinvested in the traditional towns and villages - but the Council arn't the ones to do it alone. They need to set up autonomous BID companies/TCM partnerships which they heavily invest in, and start getting serious.
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