Gleeson Street supermarket gets go ahead

The proposed supermarket at Gleeson Street has been given the green light from Athlone Town Council planners. The 30,000 square-foot supermarket planned for the former McFarland's furniture store on Gleeson Street was given the thumbs up on Thursday last, February 2. Gallico Developments, the company behind Athlone Towncentre, are also behind the supermarket plans and said there has been interest in the industry with hopes that a well known grocery chain such as Superquinn or SuperValu will locate at the premises, located opposite Athlone Towncentre. And while Iceland has plans to open a store in Athlone this year, it is likely this premises would be too big for this store. The supermarket plans were granted permission with 30 conditions attached, but nothing out of the ordinary for a development such as this. The conditions include the provision of a bicycle shelter and stands outside the supermarket; opening hours of the supermarket to be agreed with the council; service cables to be located underground; an archaeological assessment to be carried out; restricted delivery times during construction to avoid traffic congestion at peak times and trolley bays are not to be located at the front or side of the supermarket. The council has also specified that Gallico Developments is to provide a new, high quality finish footpath of a minimum two metres wide along the western side of Gleeson Street, across the frontage of the development and as far as the steps leading to St Mary's Square at the southern end of the street, at its own expense. The developer must also provide public lighting along the new footpath. Gallico must also pay in excess of €40,000 in development contributions - €29,293.50 in respect of public infrastructure and facilities and €13,966.98 in respect of the Athlone Main Drainage infrastructure. The first sum is broken down as: €9,906.71 for infrastructure relating to open spaces, cultural, recreational and community facilities, amenities and landscaping works, town and village improvement; €12,728.09 for roads and carparking infrastructure and €5,658.70 for water treatment facilities and water mains. The supermarket will include retail space, a cafe, offices, staff areas and storage areas. It will also have an underground link to Athlone Towncentre where deliveries for the supermarket will be made, which Gallico say will mean there will be no traffic disturbance in the area. John O'Sullivan of Gallico Developments previously told the Westmeath Independent that the addition of the supermarket would mean Athlone Towncentre would be a one-stop shop, allowing people to do their weekly grocery shopping when they've finished shopping at other retailers in the centre, such as Next, Zara or H&M, pointing out that Marks & Spencer, which is also located at the shopping centre, is viewed more as a specialist grocery store. According to Paul Staunton, Centre Director at Athlone Towncentre shopping centre: "There is a pent up demand for convenience shopping which is not currently available within the centre and a number of well-known operators have already expressed an interest in the space." The developers were also quick to point out that the north wall of the Fairgreen will not be touched and that in contrast to the old cinema, which towers in height, the new building will barely protrude above the wall, providing a vastly improved visual amenity.