Staff in the county’s two planning departments can continue with a well-earned breather after the years of madness as the amount of business crossing their desks continues to fall.
In the first week of the year only 14 houses were granted permission in the whole county and none within the Athlone town boundary limits. The most substantial of these projects was the granting of permission to Horken Homes to build four detached houses in Archerstown outside Delvin. All the other 10 are one-off builds.
The only other green light of note was to John Raleigh who was given the nod to demolish a bungalow on the Main Street in Tyrellspass and replace it with two shops and two offices.
In the same week, applications for a further 23 houses were received in the Mullingar office, 22 of these from a Eugene McCormack, who’s looking to build 14 detached and eight semi-detached homes in Multyfarnham.
No applications were submitted in Athlone.
In the same period, Frank Mulligan was turned down in his application to build 14 detached and 24 semi-detached homes, along with a creche and a medical centre on the Ardmore Road in Mullingar.
At the other end of town, Niall Fox was refused permission to build four shops, three apartments and 35 car parking spaces on a site on Patrick Street.
In Tyrellspass, PJ Ward was told he can’t open a sand and gravel pit at Ardmore.
Again, nothing was even turned down in the Athlone office.
