Work to start on Lissywollen road 'in coming weeks'

Members of Westmeath County Council have voted in favour of a proposal to transfer lands for Athlone's largest-ever housing project to a new consortium which will oversee the construction of 576 houses and a new access road. Work on the new road is due to start "in the coming weeks".

The transfer of the lands, which was done by way of a show of hands at Monday's meeting of Westmeath County Council, paves the way for the construction of the massive Lissywollen housing project on a site of approximately 16 hectares between Gaelscoil na gCéithre Máistrí and Garrycastle.

The project will now be developed by Garrycastle Homes Ltd (trading as Alanna Homes), following the insolvency of one of the original partners in the consortium which was due to complete the project.

In a letter to members, the council's Chief Executive, Pat Gallagher, outlined the reasons behind bringing the revised proposal before this week's meeting. He explained that councillors had approved the disposal of the subject lands to Alanna-Roadbridge JV at a meeting on February 25, 2019.

Monday's meeting heard that, since the 2019 disposal, the project for the development of these lands has progressed and the developer has obtained planning permission for 576 houses comprising 402 private homes and 174 social homes. The local authority recently received funding approval for the social housing units from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

However, the Chief Executive's letter outlined that, as the partners in the original consortium have changed “due to the insolvency of one of the original partners” and since the actual name of the consortium has changed, it was necessary to bring an amended proposal before the meeting.

While welcoming news that the Lissywollen housing project is back on track, Cllr Frankie Keena asked if there was a timeline in place and wanted to know when the first part of the construction phase, the access road, would begin. He also asked that local residents living in the vicinity of the project, including those living in Brawny, be kept updated during construction.

Cllr John Dolan also welcomed the project and said a new Residents Association is “in the early stages of being formed in Brawny” and he also asked that they be kept informed at all stages throughout the construction of the houses.

Director of Services Mark Keaveny confirmed that a “final draft” has been issued to the developers and it is hoped that this can be signed off on “over the coming weeks” after which construction workers will begin moving on site.

“We do not have an exact date as to when the workers will be on site but we would expect that it will be over the coming weeks,” said Mr Keaveny, who also confirmed that the access road is “the first part of the construction process” and will take approximately nine months to complete.

However, he added that it will not be necessary for the access road to be fully completed before construction work begins on the houses. He also told Cllrs Dolan and Keena that the council executive had met with Residents Associations in the vicinity of the proposed development on “numerous occasions” in the past, and would continue to liaise closely with them during the construction of the housing development.

The Director of Services also said construction of the houses will begin at the Garrycastle end of the site and move in the direction of the Athlone Regional Sports Centre.