A Westmeath councillor has expressed concern about future development in some of the county’s smaller towns. Cllr Denis Leonard said he was worried that towns and villages like Kinnegad, Rochfortbridge, and Ballynacargy may be deprived of vital services in the future purely because their populations aren’t large enough.
“These towns may have reached a salient point with regard to populations, but may not have reached tipping point regarding infrastructure and services such as education,” said Cllr Leonard.
“The guts of 60 per cent of the county’s population of the county do not live in Athlone or Mullingar, and they rely on rural transport, rural schools, etc. For example Kinnegad has 3,000 people and Bus Éireann might pull the bus service out because it doesn’t have 3,500 people, or the secondary school pull out as it doesn’t have 4,000 people,” he suggested.
“I would be concerned if somewhere like Kinnegad was having services pulled because it’s not at a salient number. We did give a commitment to a lot of people; planning was given on the understanding of certain amenities.”
The council’s director of services Barry Kehoe said while the council has to comply with the constraints of the Regional Planning Guidelines and national policy, there is scope for Kinnegad and other towns and villages to grow.
“We would hope service providers would continue to serve them. It is not reasonable to grow a town just to keep services - as then Athlone and Mullingar wouldn’t grow to their full potential. It’s difficult, but there is scope for growth.”
The discussion took place in the context of the draft County Development Plan, which goes on public display from February 1.
