Plans to double the size of Athlone over the next 15 years were advanced this week (September 27 ) after councillors voted to accept the manager’s plan for 302Ha (750 acres ) at Creggan on the eastern edge of the town.
The site was feverishly speculated about over the summer months, with talk of a Chinese-financed enterprise and exhibition zone suggesting between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs, but this has not been formally advanced in any way since.
Reports in another local publication that the county council “is believed to be recruiting new planning staff to help deal with the [Chinese] project” were denied by senior staff at Westmeath County Council who said “that is not the case”. They pointed out that because of the State-wide embarrgo an any further public service employment, any move to reccruit further planners in Mullingar or Athlone could not be made in the county, and could only be made by the Minister of the Environment.
The Creggan Local Area Plan (LAP ) is the council’s effort to provide a site for the properly managed employment and commercial growth of the town in line with its Gateway status in the 2002 National Spatial Strategy, and has already been thus designated by both the council and Department of Environment.
The plan for the area was first brought before Westmeath County Council in June when it was decided to reveal it for public consumption, and has since been deemed “consistent” within both the County Development Plan by the county council, and also the regional planning guidelines by the Environmental Protection Agency.
There were just five submissions received over the last three months in relation to the Creggan LAP, with the EPA, the National Roads Association, and a Dublin-based planning consultant, Simon Clear and Associates welcoming it.
It was objected to by representatives of Golden Island and one local resident.
The area in question is just outside the town’s eastern boundary, and stretches from Garrycastle bridge to the RTE masts along its northern boundary; from the AIT to the N62 Birr turn, west to east; and south over the Dublin-Galway railway line to almost the Shannon callows. The footprint of the designated site is roughly equal to the existing area of Athlone whose population is expected to rise to 26,000 within 12 years.
The Creggan area is one of 48 such “developing areas” within spatial strategy-designated gateways and hubs around the country that were presented by local authorities to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government for promotion in this way.
The council has settled on this part of Athlone for future, guided development because of its proximity to the AIT, the M6 motorway, and the Dublin-Galway railway line. Also, bearing in mind the flooding of last November, the southern edge of the site stops well short of the Shannon floodplain.
At the meeting in Mullingar on Monday, county manager Danny McLoughlin, told the councillors that the Creggan plan was the 14th LAP to be completed in the county, with just Moate and Loughandunning outstanding.
Also at the meeting, the council gave the go-ahead for the construction of new Creggan and Golden Island sewerage pumping stations to start in the Spring.
This will be the latest infrastructural improvement in the €87million four-year plan for the improvement of Athlone sewerage and wastewater.
“This is a fundamental development for Athlone sewerage, and will fulfil the needs [of the town] for the next 20 or 30 years,” said Mr McLoughlin.
