Frustration at ongoing delays to 576-home Athlone project

Athlone's Mayor, Cllr Frankie Keena, has voiced his frustration at the ongoing delays to work getting started on the town's largest housing development.

The 576-home estate in the Lissywollen area, close to Athlone Town Stadium and the Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí gaelscoil, has yet to get underway. This is despite planning permission being granted for it well over three years ago.

At last week's monthly meeting of Westmeath County Council, Cllr Keena expressed his unhappiness that the project was taking so long to get started.

"We just need to get moving on this," he said. "It's so annoying that it is so delayed."

The council's director of services for housing, Jackie Finney, admitted it was disappointing the contract for the development, between the council and the lead developer, Alanna Homes, had still not been signed.

"I have been disappointed to come back every month and say it's not signed yet," said Ms Finney, adding that the contract process was moving slowly because of the volume of legal documentation that needed to be prepared and agreed.

Ms Finney did report that one aspect of the project had been finalised - the selection of a name for it.

She said the name that had been chosen for the vast new housing estate was Kilnafaddoge, which is the townland where it's to be located.

"There's a naming procedure that has taken place, so the main estate name will be Kilnafaddoge," she stated.

In raising the Lissywollen development for discussion, Cllr Keena noted that updates on project had previously been included every month in the council's monthly management report, but this report contained no reference at all it for the past two months.

"I couldn't find it (in the management report) this month, and I couldn't find it last month either, even though it's one of the biggest schemes in the county with 576 housing units. Why is that?" asked Cllr Keena.

"Some 30% of those units will be coming to the local authority as social housing, and part of it is for affordable housing as well. Where are we at, regarding work starting on site?"

He also pointed out that the delay to the new link road through the proposed development, which will run between the Ballymahon Road roundabout and the Garrycastle roundabout, had recently been highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the State's financial watchdog.

"This road was in a group of 24 projects in the country, and it's one of only two that are left where work hasn't started," he said.

Responding, Ms Finney said the Lissywollen development had not been included in the council management report because "strictly speaking, we're still in a procurement process" for it.

"Until the development agreement is signed it won't appear (in the monthly report), but as soon as it's signed I'll be glad to include it, because it will greatly improve our (housing) numbers and targets for the next number of years."

The council this year initiated a compulsory purchase order (CPO) process for a small portion of land which forms part of the overall development site, but Ms Finney said this CPO process was not responsible for the delays.

"The delays are nothing to do with the CPO," she stated. Instead, she said the fallout from the liquidation of Roadbridge Ltd, which had originally partnered with Alanna Homes on the project, had pushed back the project's timeframe.

"For the last number of months now we've been meeting weekly with the developer, and we are at the final stages of getting the legal documentation in place for the signing of the agreement."

She said she was "hopeful" the agreement to commence work would be signed in 2024.

"(The project) has drifted a bit, but that's not for the want of the council putting pressure on the developers, and them, equally, putting on pressure to get their finances in place," she said.

"I would be hopeful it would be signed before the end of the year. There is a project board meeting coming up. At that meeting it will hopefully be approved for signing, and then it will just be a matter of setting the date."

She added the council was also keeping in contact with the Department on the delivery of the link road which is due to represent the first step in the overall construction process for the new estate.