What is needed to make Kilkenny City even better?

What do we need for the wellbeing of the community of Kilkenny City?
That is the question being posed by Kilkenny Public Participation Network (PPN) and they want to hear from all the groups and organisations in Kilkenny.
PPN is developing a vision for community wellbeing which means thinking about what we have and what we need to help Kilkenny City to be as great as it can be for us and for the many generations that follow on from ours.
One thing everyone can agree on is that we would like our community to be the very best it can be.
Kilkenny PPN are delighted to be rolling out a new National Initiative on Community Wellbeing.
“Our wellbeing is affected by many things; the economy, the environment, services, health, infrastructure etc and the wellbeing of the community affects everyone within it,” explained Mags Whelan, Coordinator for Kilkenny PPN.
“We really want to hear from the groups and organisations on the ground about what is important to them”.
The PPN is hosting an event on Monday, February 17 at 1.30pm in St Canice’s Community Hall, Kilkenny to start this important conversation.
Groups will be able to feed in online. All this information will be used to influence policy and guide the work of the PPN and its representatives in influencing policy, and working towards achieving the community’s goals.
It will be fed into the Local Authority and other agencies and will become a very useful referral document to assist communities in attaining what they need and want for their localities and the people within their communities.
This document will also feed into the review of the Local Economic Community Plan (LECP) which will be undertaken by the Local Authority in 2021.
What is Community Wellbeing?
“Wellbeing is an increasingly common term that can describe wider conditions than good physical and mental health, which we need as individuals and communities to have a better quality of life, a healthier environment and increased prosperity.
“Some of these are things that we can easily measure, like the number of pre-school places, or the speed with which an ambulance can get to a sick person,” said Mags.
“Others are less easily measured, such as our pride of place, our heritage and the way in which we all look after each other.
“All aspects of wellbeing are connected to each other. So, for example, if we our natural environment is poor, it will affect our mental and physical health as well as our economy. In other words, all the parts of our community wellbeing are interconnected.”
Under this programme the Kilkenny PPN and the other 30 PPNs in the country will look at community wellbeing under the same headings; social and community development; environment and sustainability; work, economy and resources; health; values, culture and meaning; and participation, democracy and good governance.
The first community consultation meetings is on February 17 at 1.30pm. To find out more contact Mags Whelan on ppnkilkenny @kilkennycoco.ie