Rules to be put in place over traders' street furniture on Athlone street

Adrian Cusack

Rules are to be drawn up explaining what kind of street furniture businesses will be allowed to use outside their premises on the new-look Church Street in Athlone.

The measure is planned by the council on foot of a motion from Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, who said some businesses have not been "embracing" the new street in a "tasteful" way.
Cllr O'Rourke said some of the furniture that has recently been placed outside businesses on Church Street was not what the council had in mind when it was planning the ongoing €3m revamp of the street.
"Some businesses have embraced the wider street in a very tasteful way, but others have not," he said.
"A pub moving its furniture from inside the pub to outside the pub is not, for me, a proper use of the public space."
He added it was "obvious" some Church Street businesses were cleaning the newly-paved footpaths in front of their premises while others were not.
Cllr O'Rourke was speaking at a meeting of the Athlone Municipal District earlier this month, where he put forward a motion calling for "a very clear and instructive set of guidelines" for businesses on the street.
He said these guidelines should explain to businesses "how they may and may not use the footpath area to the front of their premises and clearly set out the reasonable footprint available to them and the quality and style of furniture allowable."
Cllr Michael O'Brien supported the motion. "There are a lot of beautiful shopfronts on Church Street and then there are others that 'let the side down'," he said.
"As we all know, if you don't put rules and regulations in place you have no power to come back later and say: that's not what we meant," agreed Cllr John Dolan.
Cllr Paul Hogan praised the use of street furniture in the area around Main Street at the rear of Athlone Castle. "If you go down there on a weekend it looks tremendous, just like any European city you might go to. It's a great use of that space."
Barry Kehoe, Director of Services with Westmeath County Council, explained that street furniture was subject to a licence from the local authority but he didn't believe any licences had been sought by Church Street traders.
"I don't think we have any licensed street furniture on Church Street at the moment," he said. 
"We want to encourage it. Where it can be provided safely, it adds to the atmosphere of the street and of the public domain."
Mr Kehoe said the licensing process for street furniture was similar to the planning process, in that business must make their application to the council and advertise it in a local newspaper.
The council can then decide on whether or not to allow the proposed street furniture and it can implement certain conditions around its use.
Mr Kehoe said that, before the end of this year, Westmeath County Council would draw up a policy on what kind of street furniture would be permitted on Church Street.