Green light for new student apartments on Athlone’s Dublin Road
Planning approval has been granted by Westmeath County Council for a student accommodation development involving the construction of 26 apartments across five new blocks next to The Tack Room pub on Athlone's Dublin Road.
The project is described as providing 91 student accommodation units in the form of single rooms with study and integrated en-suites, in minimum groups of three and four, along with shared communal living areas.
The five new blocks will be up to three stories in height.
As part of the development, The Tack Room pub is due to be refurbished and reduced in size, while the Genesis nightclub premises to the rear of the pub is to be demolished. An area of "unkempt open space" on the site will also be utilised for the new apartments.
The planning bid for the development was lodged last May on behalf of PF&4Ds Ltd, directed by Peter Flynn, with an address c/o Nick Linnane & Co, Ivy House, Moate.
A planning report on behalf of the developer, submitted by Emma Pillion Planning, of Fardrum, Athlone, noted that "the student accommodation shortage in Athlone has been increasing since 2010," and, following the pandemic, this shortage of student properties "returned with increased intensity".
The report went on to say that the new development involved "the extension of an existing student accommodation campus (Heatherview Court)," and that the new apartments would be built on an area of the Dublin Road site which was predominantly derelict at present.
"The proposed development proposes an additional five blocks of student accommodation, to complete the existing five-block campus that the applicant owns and operates," it said.
The site of the new apartments is approximately 300 metres from the TUS Athlone campus.
A design report lodged on behalf of the developer said the project would "complement and improve upon" the existing Heatherview Court accommodation there.
It said the developer "acknowledges the high value of the site, given its proximity and potential additional amenity to the college, and is intent on procuring new buildings of quality that are consistent with this premise."
During the planning process, two submissions were lodged by residents of the neighbouring Cartrontroy Heights estate, expressing concern about the potential for the new student apartments to overlook their homes, resulting in a loss of privacy.
The council requested further information on the plans last year and this was submitted on behalf of the developer last month.
In its decision which was signed off on Friday last, April 12, the local authority approved the development subject to 18 conditions. These included the payment to the council of a development contribution of €77,917.
The developer was also instructed to apply to Westmeath County Council for a road opening licence, to facilitate a new entrance road into the development.
The permitted hours when construction work can take place on the development were restricted by the local authority to between 7.30am and 6.30pm, Monday to Saturday.