An Taisce calls for action to address dereliction on Athlone's Connaught Street

Ireland's national trust, An Taisce, has publicly called for action to address the "serious urban decline over several decades" on Connaught Street in Athlone.

In a recent post on social media, An Taisce shared photos of dereliction on the street and said it could benefit from inclusion in the Government's Historic Towns Initiative.

"Connaught Street, once the commercial heart of the west side of Athlone, has experienced serious urban decline over several decades and now has largescale vacancy and dereliction issues," stated An Taisce's post.

"It requires a regeneration programme such as the Historic Towns Initiative #DerelictIreland".

The Historic Towns Initiative is a funding programme, administered by the Heritage Council and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is designed to promote the heritage-led regeneration of Ireland's historic towns.

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, Kevin Duff of An Taisce's planning unit said part of its work involves highlighting buildings across the country that are at risk due to dereliction.

"If there's somewhere that's suffering from dereliction, we try to draw attention to it," he said.

"Connaught Street has obviously been in a bad way for a number of years and it needs something like the Government's Historic Towns initiative.

"If local businesses or community or heritage groups got together they could put in a proposal to apply for the Historic Towns Initiative in order to attract funding for restoring properties."

He pointed to the example of Ramelton in Donegal as a place "where they successfully regenerated their town based on the Historic Towns Initiative... They did very nice work on a number of buildings."

Discussing Athlone more generally, Mr Duff felt the town wasn't living up to its full potential.

"Athlone, given where it is, should really be a thriving urban hub for the Midlands but it seems to under-perform a little," he commented.

"In a separate report we were also pointing out how the area in front of the Castle and (St Peter and Paul's) Church is taken up by car parking.

"That should really be a place with restaurants and cafes spilling out onto a plaza there, which would be a nice, attractive place for people to come and visit.

"Instead you have the square, which was previously a market square, that is now just taken up by car parking and the circulation of cars," he said.