Work set to begin on Athlone's largest housing estate next week

Work on the 576-unit Plovers Wood development in the Lissywollen area of Athlone is set to start as early as next week, after the commencement notice for the development was submitted to Westmeath County Council.

The council validated the notice on Monday, July 28, meaning the contractor will be free to go on site from next week.

The overall project is expected to take over five years to complete, with work beginning at the Garrycastle end of the site. In the past number of days, containers have been moved on site at this location, suggesting the establishment of a site office.

The company behind the massive housing project, Alanna Homes, previously stated that, once work begins, there will be a liaison person on site to answer any questions local residents may have.

The development will be built over a number of phases, with the first phase of the project containing 103 housing units. It also includes the construction of a controversial 30km per hour link road, described in planning documents as Lissywollen Avenue, which would traverse the housing development and create a new route from the Ballymahon Road to Garrycastle.

At the July meeting of Westmeath County Council, director of services for housing, Jackie Finney, said the commencement notice had been validated that very day, July 28, which meant the contractor would not be permitted to start for another two weeks.

Cllr Keena welcomed the news and told the Westmeath Independent: "I'm delighted. It has been a long project to get over the line and get it started.

"It's something that will address the housing shortage in the Athlone area, in terms of providing local authority housing, affordable housing and private housing. There are 576 homes, and 30% of them are local authority."

Cllr Keena said he had stressed to the developer the importance of keeping communications open with residents, and said a number of meetings had been held in this regard.

"The queries I picked up at the last meeting - I am following up on those," he said.

"I've been in touch with the Roads Department office in the council and with Alanna Homes. I would like to keep the discussion going."

Cllr Keena said the development is badly needed, and while there will be some disruption due to the volume of construction traffic, he would be asking the council to put safety measures in place at the Garrycastle Roundabout.

"In the long term, the council has that road down for the active travel programme, but something needs to be done in the meantime with the construction traffic," he said.

"To my knowledge, this is the biggest (housing) project ever in the Midlands," said Cllr Keena, adding that he hoped the work would take place with minimum inconvenience and be completed to everyone's satisfaction.

While Cllr Keena was not yet aware of an exact start date, he said: "They are preparing the compound, so that's a step in the right direction."