Planning bid due shortly for 547 more Athlone homes

A month after the green light was given for over 400 new homes in the Coosan area, a planning application for another massive housing development, also on the east side of Athlone, is about to be submitted.

Developer Alanna Roadbridge is planning a 547-unit development in Brawney. The application for the project is due to be submitted to An Bord Pleanala as part of the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process, the fast-track mechanism for large scale developments which bypasses the local authority.

It's expected the application will be lodged before Christmas, and possibly as soon as the coming week.

"The developer is about to commence the strategic housing development application. I'm told it's due this week," Westmeath council official, Mark Keaveney, informed local councillors at a meeting on Monday.

If approved, the Brawney scheme, along with the 426-home Castlestar (Athlone) development in Coosan, would contribute to the creation of almost 1,000 new homes on sites off the Ballymahon Road over the coming years.

Of the 547 new units planned in Brawney, 170 (30%) would be for social housing. The development would be comprised of 279 houses, 268 apartments, two creches, and associated site works.

A controversial aspect of the plan is the development of a new link road between the Ballymahon Road roundabout and the Garrycastle Road, which would be built in advance of the housing element of the scheme.

A Brawney residents' group has previously outlined a number of its concerns about the new road, known as the Lissywollen South access road.

Revised drawings for the road were submitted to the residents in recent days, and the group has not yet had a chance to meet to go through them collectively.

However, a spokesperson for the local residents told the Westmeath Independent on Tuesday that "while the road (design) is now safer than the original proposals, it's still not as safe as we'd like it to be."

The spokesperson added that the residents wanted to see "more detail on the junction treatments and the traffic studies" that were carried out on behalf of the developer.

Cllr Frankie Keena said the Brawney residents had been engaging with him on issues around this project for a number of years now, and he was anxious to ensure their concerns would be addressed.

“It’s important that any through road would be provided in a safe manner, for the safety of children and existing residents in what is a highly-populated area,” he said.

The plans for the Brawney development were first mooted several years ago, and a number of tripartite meetings have taken place between the developer, the council, and An Bord Pleanala to discuss the project.

Earlier this year, the planning board told Alanna Roadbridge Developments Ltd that their initial proposals required “further consideration/amendment” before a full planning application could be lodged.

Athlone’s Mayor, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, welcomed the news that the planning application was due to be submitted shortly.

“I have to say that, in the past, I had some doubts as to whether (this development) would come to pass at all, because it had gone quiet for some time and, at the end of the day, this is a commercial venture.

“(The developer) has to want to do it - they have to see the business case in it - and I was concerned at one point that perhaps they didn’t see that business case.

“But thankfully now it’s proceeding. It’s a vast tract of undeveloped, close-to-town-centre, prime land that needs housing on it. That is the bottom line.”

Cllr O’Rourke said he believed the input from local residents had helped improve the design of the planned road from the Ballymahon Road roundabout to Garrycastle.

“The residents have rightly had an input, and that has influenced the ultimate direction of the road through the estate,” he said.

“It has resulted in a much more user-friendly route for the road. I think it will be a safer road, and it just looks more attractive in the way that it’s laid out.

“I think the road will serve to enhance the area, because there’s so much green space, there’s cycling routes, there’s safe crossing points, and there’s fencing in place where it’s needed.”

Once the plans have been lodged with An Bord Pleanála, applications for strategic housing developments are to be decided within a 16-week period, which also includes public consultation and the submission of a report by the planning authority.