Fernhill Garden Centre expansion plan placed on hold

Plans for a major expansion of the Fernhill Garden Centre in Athlone have been placed on hold by Westmeath County Council, who have requested further information on the project.

Council planners were due to make a decision by February 22 on the planning application which would see the existing glazed atrium on the site being extended by 430 square metres; the construction of a 905 square metre extension adjoining the north side of the existing atrium; a 325 square metre retractable-roofed outdoor heavily planted seating and kids play area at the east end of the existing cafe and the construction of a timber clad pavilion for the expansion of garden care, fertilisers, seeds and bulbs.

The application, which was submitted by Austin Reid, also seeks retention permission for the 10 display log cabins at the north-west corner of the site; the demolition of part of the old stores at the stone administration building and the construction of 135 square metres of administration/office extension to same, together with a proposed new open yard area, and all associated works. These works will include an extension to the existing public car park at the front part of the site; the repositioning of existing lightweight canopy structures to make way for the proposed extensions and the removal of an existing storage building near the existing house.

In the request for further information, council planners have requested Fernhill Garden Centre to relocate a log cabin which is located “unduly close” to the boundary addressing the Cornamagh road. The council said the cabin – which is the subject of retention permission - has “adverse impacts upon the visual amenity along this road, and have requested that it be relocated to “a less prominent area within the site” and that a revised site layout plan be sumbitted.

The council has also requested a detailed landscape plan and planting schedule to provide for “supplementary planting” along the western and north-western boundary of the Fernhill Garden Centre site and they have asked the applicants to examine the front entrance at the juction with the existing road edge of the L-9001. The request for further information letter notes that there appears to be “excessive deformation of the road edge from traffic movements in and out of Fernhill garden centre”. Council planners have requested details to be sumbitted as to how this deformation can be resolved.

Other issues which the applicants have been asked to address include a design for a soakaway to allow for the road drainage and the drainage of the existing entrance and an EV charging plan.

According to an architectural design statement prepared by Athlone-based Brendan McGettigan & Associates Ltd as part of the planning application, Fernhill Garden Centre is described as a “flagship enterprise” in the wider Athlone area, having “grown incrementally” from humble beginnings to a company which now provides significant employment for local people both “on site and in the various landscape projects” that the company is involved in.

The design statement outlines three main reasons for seeking the proposed development, including the need to provide appropriate display space for “a widening product range;” to keep pace with competing similar centres in other large town, particularly in Leinster and to provide for the “proper controlled organic growth” of the business over the next decade.

It also states that the current planning application will “compliment and complete” the existing facilities at Fernhill, and will provide a 'road map' for the future development of the centre over the next five to ten years.

A decision on the planning application has now been deferred pending receipt of the further information requested by council planners.