Zoning change required on Bower scheme
Westmeath County Council is to consider contravening its own development plan to pave the way for planning approval for a major residential scheme on the site of the former Our Lady's Bower school and convent.
A decision had been due at the weekend on Wincove Land Ltd's revised plans for 99 units, mainly apartments, on the prominent hilltop site overlooking Athlone, however, that's now on hold pending the material contravention process to alter the zoning for residential use.
A letter was sent by the local authority on May 7 to the applicant, who is linked to the Hanly Group in Roscommon, stating that they are considering contravening the Athlone Town Development Plan 2014-2020 to pave the way for the Bower Hall development to proceed.
Should the firm give their backing to start that process, details of the material contravention will be published seeking public comment before a report is compiled by council chiefs with an overall recommendation. It will then come before a full Westmeath County Council for a full vote by members.
According to a planning report on file, the site is zoned educational, open space and infrastructural, and would require a material contravention to alter the zoning for residential use. The zoning is also referred to as education, community and institutional in the planning documents.
Revised plans for the landmark project could see a change of use of the listed convent building, which dates back to the 1880s, and a later extension from the 1960s, to house development of over 99 units, a mix of apartments and three townhouses, a library and a creche at Aghecocora, Lower Road.
In a bid to address earlier concerns about the height of the apartment blocks and the overall design of the scheme, the applicant reduced the buildings to four storeys, and moved some of the apartments to the western side of the site.
Last month, the company behind the ambitious plans, said a section of a planned library in the development will include a museum “celebrating what the La Sainte Union Sisters did for Athlone, and their history” in terms of the school and the positive standing it earned nationally and internationally.