West side traders express concerns as regeneration work nears

With just days to go until the expected start date for a regeneration project on the west side of Athlone, traders met with local councillors yesterday evening (Tuesday) to express their concern at a reduction in parking spaces and disruption to traffic flow in the area while the work takes place. While the meeting was held after the Westmeath Independent went to print, it's understood that some traders who were attending had serious reservations about the work going ahead because of its possible impact on business during a time of economic downturn. Close to €1m has been set aside by the council for the first phase of the regeneration work. Yesterday, its Director of Services Barry Kehoe said he expects the work to commence "in the next two weeks or so" and that the first phase of the project should be completed by December 11 next. Mr Kehoe stated that the council was "working with traders on an ongoing basis in order to alleviate any concerns that they have in relation to access and parking." A town council engineer met with traders last week to explain what the works would involve, and last night's meeting with councillors was convened because many of the traders continued to have doubts about the project. Explaining the area to be covered by this first phase of the streetscape works, Mr Kehoe said that if you drew an imaginary line from the castle to Sean's Bar, the area to the left of that line (the side closest to the Shannon) is to be the site for the work. Once this first phase is completed, the council plans to continue the new streetscape design in three additional phases throughout the west side of Athlone. While acknowledging that some traders have not been in favour of the works going ahead at this time, Cllr Kieran Molloy said in advance of yesterday's meeting that "there's always going to be some pain before gain," and that he felt the project would have longterm benefits for the west side of town. "Overall I think it will be beneficial and will bring a lot more people into the area in the longterm," said Cllr Molloy. "That's my view on it. I don't want to pre-empt the traders and what their views on it might be, but there's almost a million euro there to be spent on this work and I am always delighted to see money being spent on the west side. "For many years I felt that the area was neglected but that's no longer the case, with the canal development and developments in and around Connaught Street. I think it would be great to see this work done and then have it extended up to Connaught Street."