Council waits for guidelines on Living City Initiative

Local councillors are eager to press ahead with the “Living City Initiative” that has been expanded to include Athlone, but nothing can be done until guidelines are announced. The issue was raised at the November meeting of Westmeath County Council by Cllr Frankie Keena who urged the council to press on with identifying possible areas in the town that might benefit.

The inclusion of Athlone in the scheme was announced in the government’s budget, but so far, the council has got no information on how it is to be implemented.

The scheme provideds dedicated tax relief for the conversion of commercial properties into residential use, including ‘over the shop’ premises.

It allows tax relief for money spent on refurbishing, or converting, residential or commercial properties in Special Regeneration Areas (SRA) within the qualifying cities and towns. These include owner-occupier residential relief, rented residential relief and commercial relief.

The chief executive, Barry Kehoe, remarked that the scheme runs until the end of 2030 and has been broadened to include properties built before 1975 whereas, before, it was only for pre-1915 builds. It offers tax relief for the conversion of commercial properties to residential, including over the shop premises, and the maximum tax relief has gone from up €200,000 to €300,000.

Mr Kehoe said the council is waiting for guidance before it starts mapping out areas for inclusion. Athlone Chamber of Commerce will work carefully with the council and the planning department is geared up to identify areas with significant dereliction and regeneration potential, he pointed out.

He said that the council will map those areas and engage with local councillors to make sure they were happy with the areas identified. The council will then engage with the Department of Finance about the formal process, and put administrative structures in place to assist property owners in terms of their engagement, he explained.

Cllr Keena felt local councillors should be involved in the preliminary stages of identifying areas for inclusion. He would like to see it finalised before publication of the Urban Area Plan and asked that it be approved by the first quarter of 2026.

Cllr Keena said that that there are a lot of long term vacant properties and derelict properties throughout the town. Apart from offering tax incentives to property owners, this scheme will enhance the town, he said, adding that the scheme has generated huge interest.

Cllr Paul Hogan also wanted to be more involved in the scheme and said he looked forward to working through the “finer details”. He predicted that a number of streets in the town would benefit, and it would attract investment and bring new life into streets that have suffered dereliction and vacancy for years.

"As soon as we get guidelines, and before we do any mapping, we will get the views of the councillors," Mr Kehoe promised. "We are absolutely more than happy to engage with you from a very early stage," he stated. He assured the members that the council will push the boundaries as far as possible to get the maximum benefit for the town.

Mr Kehoe said there would be no problem getting this scheme finalised before the publication of the Urban Area Plan.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme