First glimpse of proposed student housing hub in Athlone
The developer behind a proposed student and residential housing project in the Lissywollen and Garrycastle area of Athlone is hopeful that a Strategic Housing Development (SHD) planning application for it will be formally submitted before the end of this year.
Former Athlone IT student Mark Cunningham is director of Avenir Homes Ltd, which is behind the development of 283 student accommodation rooms as well as 127 private housing units.
The development site, named 'The Green Quarter', is close to the ESB Networks facility in Garrycastle and incorporates the townlands of Cartrontroy, Kilnafaddoge and Lissywollen.
Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Mr Cunningham explained that the student accommodation would be divided into three apartment blocks, each linking in with the Old Rail Trail Greenway.
There would also be a separate residential housing provision of 65 houses and 62 apartments. A hotel development, which had been mooted as a possibility for the site, is not part of the current application.
This would be the second SHD planning application this year for the wider Lissywollen area, after Alanna Roadbridge Developments secured permission in June for a 576-home project that includes a new link road through the site from the Ballymahon Road to Garrycastle.
Under the SHD process, Avenir Homes Ltd applied this month for a tripartite meeting in which An Bord Pleanála, Westmeath County Council, and the developer would discuss the student accommodation and private housing plan in detail.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a decision on that application by October 7, and Mr Cunningham said, pending a positive outcome, he would be aiming to submit a full planning application a short time afterwards.
"We are certainly hoping that the application will be formally lodged before the end of the year, and decided in the spring," he said.
"As a past student of the then-Athlone Regional Technical College (RTC), I'm delighted to have the opportunity to apply for permission to construct a purpose-built student campus which both reflects the third level's institute's new Technological University status and also Athlone's place as a regional growth centre in the National Planning Framework," he said.
Mr Cunningham studied civil engineering in Athlone between 1994 and 1997, living in Willow Park at the time, and he operates a Longford-based company, Cunningham Design & Planning.
He said the Athlone SHD project was being led by planning consultant Conor Frehill, of HW Planning Limited, and designed by Henry J Lyons architects.
The developer pointed out that the site was located at the eastern end of the Lissywollen South Framework Plan area, which had been identified as a land bank of strategic importance.
"The guiding plan sets out a blueprint for the future development of the area, to include the development of a 'student quarter' to promote Athlone as an 'international student destination' which would result in a 'bustling and vibrant environment with interactive and social public open spaces' opening onto and overlooking the Old Rail Trail cycleway," he stated.