Planning bid in two months for boardwalk and outdoor pool

Westmeath County Council has confirmed it intends to submit a planning application for the Shannon boardwalk and outdoor pool in the heart of Athlone within the next two months.

The council has also settled on the riverfront area at the former Franciscan Friary residence and garden as the final location for the outdoor pool

The riverfront at the Friary was announced as the preferred location at a public consultation event in Athlone in May.

However, a report by Director of Finance Michael Hand at the quarterly finance committee meeting of the council last week revealed that the location for the pool had now been “selected”.

It said the design and planning of both the pool and boardwalk is "progressing well".

A planning application is expected to be submitted during the current third quarter.Preliminary plans show the pool being 31.75 metres x 25 metres in size.

The council secured €561,803 in Just Transition funding to progress planning and design work on the ambitious waterfront project, which is intended to increase activity along the Shannon while supporting regeneration in the area.

Westmeath County Council initially identified eight potential options for the location of the pool as part of an initial feasibility study.

This was narrowed down to four, The Strand car park, Friary, Wolfe Tone Terrace and Burgess Park.

The council said, in May, that a detailed appraisal process had identified the Friary area as the preferred location.

“This option achieved the highest overall performance across a comprehensive range of criteria, including accessibility, safety, environmental considerations, and integration with Athlone’s public realm and regeneration objectives,” the council said.

The selection is informed by extensive technical assessment and a robust public consultation process, which included stakeholder engagement, an online survey with over 220 respondents, and feedback on key issues such as safety, accessibility, and environmental impact.

Of four options put to the public as part of the survey process, the Burgess Park option had by far the largest support, with 47% of the 220 respondents favouring this location, followed by 19% choosing The Strand car park area.

The Friary option had only the third highest support of the four options, at 11%, just ahead of Wolfe Tone Terrace location at 10%. Some 17% of those responding opted for either another unspecified location or no location.

Despite the popularity of the Burgess Park location among respondents, it was decided that the water was "too shallow beyond the weir" to accommodate the pool.

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

It is intended to run along the east bank of the River Shannon from the bottom of Methodist Church Street (behind the AIB Bank) to The Strand at The Friary, which is where the outdoor pool would be placed.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme