A decision on the €1.4 billion Chinese exhibition suburb planned for the eastern edge of Athlone has been put back until mid-December after Westmeath County Council this week received the 50 points of additional information it asked for in July from the consortium involved.
The first phase of the plan to build 10.4 hectares (26 acres ) of exhibition space and related buildings on a 32 hectare (76 acre ) site was originally submitted by Athlone Business Park (ABP ) Ltd - with an address in Terenure, Dublin - last May.
This initial, €175m application is seeking permission to build two exhibition halls, each of 30,000 sq m, which if all goes to plan, should open by 2015.
The developers have told the council they expect the building of this phase would employ up to 1,500 people and that “the majority of these” will be filled by people living in and around Athlone, with the balance filled with migration from elsewhere in Ireland. A survey carried out by ABP estimated there to be in the region of 300 or so empty houses and apartments around the town that would benefit from such an influx.
They also disagree with Westmeath County Council that the development might impact adversely on local schools and other “community service provision”, pointing out that enrolment in the nine primary schools in east Athlone has increased by just five per cent in 10 years. (1,565 to 1,643 between 2001 and 2010 ).
However, with regard to the environmental impact study (EIS ) required by the council from the developers, there are still a number of questions outstanding.
The planners would like to know how ABP disregarded other sites in Ireland, and has reminded them that, according to 2001 legislation, this cannot be done on grounds of incompatible zoning only.
Last September, Westmeath County Council voted to accept the county manager’s proposal to re-zone 302ha (750 acre ), in line with the Creggan Local Area Plan, which allowed ABP file its initial application.
The entire project, which would almost double the size of Athlone over the next 15 or 20 years, will see the construction of exhibition space equal in area to 18 Golden Islands, for the price of three Towncentres.
A model of the entire project, which will stretch from Kilmartin’s roundabout into the townlands of Creggan Upper, Bunnahinly, and Kilmacuagh, is on display in the front office of the civic buildings in Athlone.
The former county manager of Roscommon, and uncle of comedian Tommy, John Tiernan, is CEO of the applicant company, with Aidan Kelly and Michael O’Sullivan named as directors. No information concerning the investors has been made public yet.
