Open evening in Moate to develop new masterplan

Westmeath County Council plans to hold an open evening in Moate to push on with the creation of a masterplan to revitalise its town centre.

Moate has been allocated €100,000 in funding as part of the government’s new Town Centre First Plans. It is one of 26 towns selected nationwide in the new initiative, and the €100,000 will help development of its master plan.

Westmeath County Council will now work with community groups, retailers and the other members of the community in Moate on devising and delivering on the objectives of the master plan.

Council senior executive, Deirdre O’Reilly, told the March meeting of Westmeath County Council that an open evening will be held in Moate, where there is already an active community forum, but they will be looking at bringing in "new blood", Ms O’Reilly remarked. Now that there is money available, there may be ramped up interest in the project, she suggested.

Cllr Vinny McCormack was anxious to know when the Moate masterplan would be "on the table".

Cllr Louise Heavin felt that the Moate action group had already pulled together the information for a masterplan and were ready to go to public consultation.

Cllr Tom Farrell wanted to know how many would be on the Moate town team and said that all strands of life and business must be represented. He was told that the specific number was not known, but it would not be too big.

"We’re all jealous of Moate," confessed Cllr Emily Wallace, who was involved in drawing up action plans for areas such as Streete, Coole, Collinstown and Rochfortbridge. She said a lot of work and funding had gone into drawing up such plans, many of which are now sitting on shelves "and we need to learn from that".

Moate was ahead of the posse in developing an action plan all those years ago and was well positioned for this initiative, said Cllr Aengus O’Rourke. He was concerned about how the council would bear the added burden of the scheme considering their lack of resources to deal with what was already in their remit.

In reply, Ms O’Reilly explained that the expertise and consultants that would be needed to drive this project would be sourced externally.

She indicated that action plans for smaller towns and villages that may have been "gathering dust" in recent years could be revived under the Town Centre First initiative launched in February. Moves are already afoot to set up town action teams in Castlepollard, Kinnegad and other others in readiness for funding.

She said the council plans to carry out surveys and sit down with locals to look at the various towns. She said this is an opportunity for towns and villages to look for funds and could lead to significant investment in the county, "if we do it right".

Cllr John Dolan was delighted to see Moate getting the recognition it deserved. There won’t be a problem with buy-in from locals, he promised.

The cathaoirleach, Cllr Frankie Keena, pointed out that a five-year plan drawn up for Moate contained a lot of data. He wondered if they could tap in to what had already been done or if they had to start from basics.

Ms O’Reilly assured councillors that the work that had already gone into action plans would not go to waste.

She stressed that those plans were the backbone of the council’s applications for funding. The plans can now be reviewed to see what is needed.

She said the scheme would be rolled out to other areas, but for now, they only have funding for Moate. We will build up the expertise in Moate and then roll it out, she said.

Cllr Paul Hogan was told that the council is in the process of recruiting a full-time vacant homes officer.

Council chief executive, Pat Gallagher, said the council had Compulsory Purchase Order powers in respect of vacant buildings, but they could be difficult to use.

He suggested that the carrot on a stick approach might be more effective. He revealed that further measures under this policy are expected to be announced later in the year.