Public urged to have their say on Athlone outdoor pool and boardwalk

Members of the public were this week given the first opportunity to have their say on an ambitious Athlone town centre regeneration project involving the construction of a boardwalk and an outdoor swimming pool in the River Shannon.

A steady stream of people attended the four-hour public consultation event on the project which took place in Athlone Civic Offices on Monday evening, where representatives from Westmeath County Council's regeneration team were joined by the design team from Cooney Architects to answer questions on the plans.

An online survey was also launched at the event, and is being distributed widely to garner views from the public between now and the closing date of February 9.

The council said all feedback received by the project team will be used to determine the final scale, design and location of the proposed public amenity.

Executive Engineer for Regeneration and Capital Projects with Westmeath County Council, Dermot Killeen, told the Westmeath Independent the project team was “very hopeful” of a strong response to the online survey.

“Athlone is a big town so we would be hoping for good engagement from members of the public. The survey is their chance to inform us as to what their wishes are, and all submissions will be reviewed and considered by the project team.”

One of the primary considerations for the project team is a location for the proposed outdoor swimming pool.

“At the moment we have four emerging feasible pool locations, and we would really like to get feedback from the people of Athlone as to which of these locations they would prefer,” said Mr Killeen.

From eight possible locations identified for the outdoor swimming pool as part of an initial feasibility study, that number has now been whittled down to four. All four possible locations are clearly marked on the online survey, namely Strand Square; Friary Strand; Wolfe Tone Terrace and Burgess Park.

The aim of the project is to provide a boardwalk linking the Athlone-Dublin Greenway to Burgess Park and beyond and, in tandem with that, to also provide an urban outdoor pool facility in the River Shannon.

While Dermot Killeen says “no costings for construction” are available as of yet, funding to the tune of €561,803 has been provided by Fáilte Ireland for the detailed design and planning of the public recreational facility.

The funding was provided under the Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking Scheme, which is part of the EU Just Transition Fund.

The boardwalk is designed to be a floating structure, approximately 450 metres in length and with a minimum width of 3 metres to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.

It is intended to run along the east bank of the River Shannon and will link the Old Rail Trail and the new Greenway Bridge to Custume Place and Burgess Park playground and amenities.

Dermot Killeen said it was always planned to have the boardwalk and outdoor pool placed “very firmly in the core of Athlone” making it fully accessible to locals and visitors alike.

He says Westmeath County Council is hoping to be in a position to finalise the design and submit a planning application for the project to An Coimisiun Pleanála “by quarter three” of this year (ie. between July and September).

He adds that progression of the project will then be subject to “planning being approved and funding being made available.”

Members of the public will have another opportunity to make submissions after the planning application is submitted, outlining any concerns or issues they have, and these will also be taken into consideration by the project team.

“I would strongly urge everyone to fill out the online survey, which only takes about 10 minutes, as this will really be of huge benefit to us in ascertaining what type of boardwalk and outdoor swimming pool the people of Athlone would like to see in their town” says Dermot Killeen.

The online survey can be accessed at: www.surveymonkey.com/r/PHY3NKZ