£30m new town centre planned for Athlone

Plans for a major £30 million redevelopment of Athlone town centre have been lodged by Athlone Urban District Council. The application lodged last week envisages a new town square on a four-acre site surrounding St Mary's Church, with a civic plaza over an underground car-park, high quality shopping units and apartments.

The centrepiece of the new development is to be a £10 million civic centre incorporating the library, childcare facilities, the local authority offices and a spectacular vaulted council chamber.

The new civic building on about an acre of the site will include an on-line, one-stop-shop, where access to State agencies will be available to the public. Also included in the building is a glass-fronted, vaulted atrium suitable for civic receptions, meeting rooms, childcare facilities, a roof garden and council services such as planning offices and a new motor tax office.

Because of the sloping nature of the site, the civic offices will have four storeys at the front and five at the rear. It has been designed not to exceed the height of St Mary's Church. Commenting on the application this week, the Athlone town clerk, Mr John Walsh, said it was a major plank in the urban regeneration of Athlone which was exceeding all expectations in recent years.

"Athlone, like many towns in Ireland, developed away from the river, the buildings backed on to the water and that lovely vista was ignored," he said.

"Now, with the aid of the current and the last urban regeneration schemes, Athlone is making the most of the waterfront aspect with new apartment developments and restaurants, bars and walkways all overlooking the Shannon."

Over the past five years there has been much regeneration in the town, on both banks of the Shannon. The Golden Island shopping development was completed in 1997 and moved most of the major stores out of the congested town centre, while new developments made much of the riverfront views. Improved marina facilities have also been developed on the waterfront for cruisers using the Shannon.

"Not many people realise that part of Co Westmeath runs west of the Shannon, it does, and the UDC is in charge of that area which allows both banks to develop under a single authority," Mr Walsh said.

"Now, at the centre of the town we have the opportunity to build a new civic area, flanked by St Mary's Church and the new civic building," said Mr Walsh.

While the entire scheme was conceived by the UDC, it is not intended that the council will develop the shopping and accommodation elements of the plan, although it has produced the plans for both so as to maintain control of the overall development.

Once planning permission is granted, the intention is to sell off the apartment and commercial elements of the scheme, using revenue raised to help finance the civic elements of the plan. "In all, the investment in the new civic building is about £10 million, while the other elements would be about twice that," Mr Walsh said.

The new shops envisaged in the civic centre development will be high quality speciality shops which will not compete with Golden Island, he said. With the proposed car park under the town square there will be parking for an additional 550 cars.