Extra housing land to be zoned in Athlone to meet new targets

Athlone is to be at the centre of additional residential land zoning in Westmeath as part of the national effort to dramatically ramp up housebuilding.

New government guidelines have mandated all local authorities to provide an extra 50% ‘headroom’ in residential zoning on top of the already expanded housing targets.

County chief executive Barry Kehoe told the March meeting of Westmeath County Council that there is sufficient land zoned in the county at present to accommodate 12,149 residential units up to 2034 but the government targets now require the county to provide enough zoned land for 13,275 units.

The council is proposing that Athlone, as the designated regional growth centre, be at the core of those extra 1,126 housing units.

This will require a new settlement plan for Athlone to be included in the Westmeath County Development Plan 2021-2027. The settlement plan will include revised land use zoning designations and new policy objectives to meet the growth targets.

The potential zoning of additional residential lands in towns such as Moate, Kinnegad, Kilbeggan, Castlepollard, Rochfortbridge, Killucan/Rathwire, Delvin, Clonmellon and Tyrrellspass is also to be considered.

The council has recently adopted a new settlement plan for Mullingar and, as a result, that town falls outside the scope of any immediate land use zoning variations.

A ‘Housing Growth Requirements’ report circulated to councillors explained that new national guidelines, published last July, translate the National Planning Framework’s population forecasts into hard housing numbers for every county. It finds that Ireland needs 50,000 new homes a year out to 2040, with around three million people expected to be living in the Eastern and Midland Region by then.

For Westmeath, the bar has now been set at 983 new homes a year up to 2034, dropping to 658 a year to 2040. That 983 figure matches the ambitious housing target already written into the Westmeath County Development Plan 2021–2027 – but the guidelines also demand a hefty 50% “headroom” on top of existing supply targets.

In response, Westmeath County Council has reviewed its development plan to check whether currently zoned land, and the county’s settlement hierarchy, can deliver the scale of growth now required.

Going through the figures, council official Cathaldus Hartin, told members the council is performing very strongly against existing development plan targets: “The current plan set a total housing target of 5,900 homes over six years, and as of the start of January, when you include all the live and appealed applications, nearly 5,700 units have been granted permission. So that's 96% of the target,” he stated, adding that of these permissions, 48% of them have been built or started construction.

However, there was, he explained, a shortfall in the amount of land required to be zoned. While there are currently approximately 260 hectares of undeveloped residential zoned lands and about 66 hectares of other undeveloped lands that allow a residential component, these had the capacity to accommodate about 12,150 units – leaving a shortfall of 1,126 units.

Mr Hartin explained that on that basis, it was recommended that the County Development Plan be varied.

“Obviously, the first part of that is go ahead with the Athlone variation and adopt a dedicated settlement plan for Athlone with updated zoning and policy objective reflective of Athlone’s strategic role in the region,” he said.

The second part, he continued, would be to zone additional residential land within Westmeath’s self- sustaining growth towns and villages, which would mean spreading the 35 hectares of proposed residential lands across towns such as Moate, Kinnegad, Kilbeggan, Castlepollard, Rochfortbridge, Killucan, Rathwire and Delvin.

Cllr Tom Farrell wanted to see growth in rural areas, but was concerned about the lack of services..

Cllr Vinny McCormack wanted to know about timelines, but wondered whether existing lands that have been zoned for some time but not developed are to be reviewed. Cllr David Jones also felt that zoning should be removed from lands that have been a long time zoned but not developed.

Responding, chief executive Barry Kehoe said the intention was between now and the end of the year, to look at extra zoning for Athlone, and after that, to look at providing additional zoning in the towns and villages that Mr Hartin had mentioned.

“We're absolutely conscious of the need for balanced development in the county, and we'd like to see more development in all the towns and villages,” Mr Kehoe said.

He went on to remark that once the land is zoned, applications need to come in from developers and builders. Mullingar and Athlone, in the previous two years, had become “very viable” places to build houses, and in 2025 alone, there had been 740 house completions in Westmeath – about 10 per cent more than required based on population. He added that in the final quarter of 2025, of 206 completions, fifty were single houses, largely in rural parts of the county.