Westside facelift works set for restart

The council will restart regeneration works at the rear of the Castle as soon as tenders are ready to be sought for the provision of a new car park in O"Connell Street. Last week"s meeting of Athlone Town Council heard that the council was working to sort out a 'last small problem' on O"Connell St before going out to tender for the carpark. The council is also awaiting an architect"s report on Main Street, after which it could complete work on the trenches there and then implement the traffic plan. The council is also looking at options for some additional parking spaces as ten carparking spaces lost are being lost due to the works. 'We want to maximise space for pedestrians,' said Director of Services Barry Kehoe. 'It"s important not to clog up that area with cars, I"d like to keep parking low in that area in Main Street,' he said. 'It"s a matter of getting a balance.' Mr Kehoe was responding to a motion by Councillor Kieran Molloy, who had asked for an update on the regeneration works, which had commenced, but were then deferred following discussions with local traders. 'One of the problems for the traders was the loss of the ten car parking spaces. Initially when this was mooted we thought the O"Connell Street carpark would be in place, but I have no doubt that the 10 parking spaces can be found,' he said. Cllr Molloy added that he was aware the council had met with some of the traders, but that the general body of traders had not been aware of the implications of the regeneration work. 'Nearly €1 million is being spent and I think it will be lovely when it"s finished and will attract a lot of tourists and visitors to the area, which will benefit the traders,' he said. When Cllr Ray Lennon said that there was only meant to be a loss of five or six car-parking spaces, this was disputed by the executive. 'No it"s ten. It was always ten, consistently ten,' said Barry Kehoe. Cllr John Butler suggested that the council should write to "Dúchas" about the 'dirty rotten shed bringing down the level of the area and ask the litter warden to take action against boats disposing refuge along the quays'. He also said that a lot of pint glasses and even broken glass were left scattered along the quay there and should be addressed.