‘Has Athlone all the infrastructure for long-term growth?’

Athlone must be more ambitious in its future growth ambitions, elected members heard at the monthly meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District of Westmeath County Council.

A motion calling on the district to discuss a planning capacity audit for the district was raised by Cllr John Dolan.

A planning capacity audit is an evaluation process used to determine whether an urban area has the necessary resources and infrastructure in place to support immediate, short to medium- and long-term developments.

The Fine Gael councillor said the previous audit was undertaken as part of the Athlone Urban Plan 2016-2022 with hopes that it could take place again later this year.

"Athlone, as we all know, has been deemed a regional growth centre and we have to ensure that we have the ambitions to match our town's expansion in the coming years. As part of regional growth centre plans the town can expect to have an estimated population of 100,000 so the onus is on us to have plans in place to meet the increasing demand for utilities," Cllr Dolan said.

As Athlone has been long since designated as a regional growth centre in the Midlands, Cllr Dolan said that the council should provide "more resources" to meet ambitions.

"This is not an Athlone versus Mullingar battle, but we are the town who have been given this status," Cllr Dolan stated.

Cllr Dolan called on the district to "feed housing and infrastructure projections" when formulating future development plans, one which "needs to be ambitious".

"We need to have the proper expertise to ensure we have the right plan in place going forward. If we get Athlone wrong, it impacts the entire Midlands region. If you haven't the right foundation stones in place, it will affect the whole building," Cllr Dolan said.

Cllr Paul Hogan said there was a "whole range of areas" the district needed "to get right first time" when planning the future of Athlone.

"In terms of business, education, infrastructure, industry and childcare, we just have to make sure that we are ambitious with our plans," Cllr Hogan said.

The elected members are due to receive a presentation of the Athlone Joint Urban Area Plan, a new joint strategy by Westmeath and Roscommon County Councils for the future development of both sides of the town, but Cllr Hogan expressed his concern that the "plan is not shelved after a couple of years as it doesn't meet our ambitions".

Cllr Keena said that a lot of groundwork was ongoing in Athlone in preparation for its future growth. He commended works "now almost at a conclusion" on the Athlone Main Drainage Scheme and the Athlone Flood Alleviation Scheme.

"It has a been a slow process getting both these sizeable projects this far, but it will benefit the town long into the future," Cllr Keena said.

Cllr Vinny McCormack said the Joint Urban Area Plan had been a "slow burner" for two years "until recent months".

"I understand the restraints on the council trying to put together major plans for the town's development, but Athlone as a regional growth centre should be receiving priority at the moment," Cllr McCormack said.

Responding, District Manager Jackie Finney said collaboration on future planning developments takes time.

"We will shortly receive a presentation on the Joint Urban Area Plan and we can continue to feed our suggestions into this process. In any meeting I have with our senior planner I will take the opportunity to lay the groundwork for the future of Athlone," Ms Finney said.