Still no planning application for long-promised Athlone road

A road project that for many years has been held up as one of the solutions to Athlone's traffic gridlock is still no closer to becoming a reality, as the required planning application for it has not been lodged.

The council's Railway Field Road development is due to create a new route for traffic in the town, between the Crescent junction and St Vincent's Care Centre, but it has been beset by endless delays over the last two decades.

In 2021, it emerged that the new road would would need to get planning permission from An Bord Pleanála, because previous planning approval granted for it 16 years earlier was now out of date.

At various stages last year, local authority officials said they were hopeful the planning application would be with An Bord Pleanála before the end of 2023.

That did not happen, and now, more than halfway through 2024, the application for the multi-million euro road project still hasn't been submitted to the planning authority.

At the most recent meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, in early July, council management was asked if any progress had been made in relation to the Railway Field Road.

Director of Services Ambrose Clarke responded that a consultant working on behalf of the local authority had submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment report, along with some other documentation needed for the planning application, the previous week.

Mr Clarke told the meeting that the full package of documentation to be lodged as part of the planning application had not yet been finalised.

He said the council expected to be in a position to submit its planning bid for the urban Athlone road in the "short to medium term".

Planning applications submitted to An Bord Pleanála typically take around six months to be decided, meaning it's likely to be some time in 2025 before a planning decision is made in respect of the Railway Field Road.

During the meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran pointed out that councillors had been told "years ago" that one-way traffic through Athlone would not work in the absence of the Railway Field Road development, but the road was not built and the one-way system was introduced anyway.

TIMELINE

2005: Planning permission for the Railway Field Road development, which was devised as a four-lane relief road between the Crescent junction and St Vincent's Care Centre, is approved through the council's 'part 8' planning process. Over the subsequent years, a protracted land dispute between two State bodies, Westmeath County Council and CIE, delays any progress on the road.

2008: A one-way traffic system through the centre of Athlone is introduced in August but scrapped in October, amid an outcry from town centre traders who said it was affecting their business. The council indicates that the one-way plan is unlikely to be reintroduced until the Railway Field Road is in place.

2009: An agreement is reached over the road project between officials from the council and CIE - however this subsequently runs aground when the CIE board decides not to ratify the deal.

2012: It emerges that over €6.13 million has already been spent by Westmeath County Council in connection with the Railway Field Road project, with this money covering land costs, the relocation of the Athlone Mixed National School to Arcadia, and design costs.

2015: Revised plans for the road, which would require the use of less CIE land, are drawn up by the council and outlined to local councillors.

2018: Work to redevelop Athlone's Church Street results in the permanent introduction of a one-way traffic system through the town's main thoroughfare.

2018: A deal is finally reached between the council and CIE over the transfer of land for the Railway Field Road. "At long last we have reached agreement with CIE," said Barry Kehoe of Westmeath County Council. "The sum of money to be paid (for the land), the accommodation works and the layout of the road have all been agreed with CIE." The link road is to consist of four lanes at each end, but will "taper to two lanes" in the centre. The existing Southern Station Road will be restricted to buses only once the new stretch of road is in place.

2019: Councillors vote to approve the land swap agreement between the local authority and CIE.

2020: Just before the start of the pandemic, Pat Nally, District Engineer with the council, says the land transfer with CIE is "going through the legal conveyancing process" and that final, detailed designs of the road are being prepared with a view to construction starting in 2021.

2021: It emerges that the initial 'part 8' planning approval for the road is now out of date, and that the council will need to prepare a new planning application for the project, to be submitted to An Bord Pleanála. "Since 2005, various standards would have changed in terms of environmental considerations and so on," said Barry Kehoe.

2024: At the July meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, councillors are told that an Environmental Impact Assessment report on the proposed road has been completed, but that the planning application still hasn't been lodged with An Bord Pleanála.