Some more fresh shoots of recovery are becoming evident across the county with commercial enterprises at both ends of Westmeath showing evidence of expansion this week.
Mergon Plastics in Castlepollard has been given the green light to construct a new warehouse, while Michael Moore Car Sales in Athlone is to install a 5,000 litre diesel tank for internal fuel, as it gets closer to its December relaunch.
Mergon, which has been the biggest employer in Castlepollard for the last 32 years, is to build a 3,747 sqm (0.92 ac ) warehouse to a height of 16.5 m (54 ft ).
The unit will have five loading docks and will store raw materials as well as finished products for both the healthcare and automotive industries.
In April last year Michael Moore Car Sales Ltd on the old Dublin Road out of Athlone was given the go-ahead to build a 1,700 sqm, €3.5m expansion at its flagship Mercedes dealership, which by coincidence, is the same age as Mergon.
Elsewhere in the county, the people behind the 23-year-old Rathowen-based peat moss firm, Klasmann-Deilmann, have been given permission to reconfigure the carpark, as well as retain an extension and a canopy erected at their filling station at Killinagh, on the main Longford road.
When completed, work on the 1.66Ha (4ac ) site will see a total of 47 car parking spaces, as well as the installation of a new wastewater and fuel traps systems.
Meanwhile Aldi and Shaston Construction will hear this week whether they have got permission for a new supermarket on the site of Westmeath Motors, and for the initial phase in a 76-house estate on the Ardmore Road respectively.
