Athlone's Midlands capital status sparks anger elsewhere

News that Athlone is set to be designated as the Midlands capital in the new National Planning Framework to be announced on Friday has been criticised elsewhere in the region.

Already, Tullamore and Mullingar Chamber of Commerce have issued a joint statement in which they claim Athlone should not be designated the capital of the midlands as it does not have adequate space to grow.

How the Westmeath Independent reported on the news today

And in the Dail today (Wednesday), Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin criticised what he said was the abandonment of the proper processes in devising the new National Planning Framework.

"Proper planning is to be undermined by the intervention of ministers with the sharpest elbows.

"Minister [Kevin] Boxer Moran gets to announce a new capital for the midlands; Sligo and Athlone have been promoted to the Champions League as regional capitals; Letterkenny, Dundalk and Drogheda are to be given some scraps as so-called 'designated centres of growth'."

See the Labour leader's comments here

And according to both Tullamore and Mullingar chambers, Athlone does not have “critical mass” to be the capital of the midlands as its “ability to grow is severely restricted by the Shannon wetlands”, which could “impact the growth potential and prospects for the midlands as a whole”.

Describing the NPF as a “very serious plan for the country”, the chambers say that “it shouldn’t be so fragile that as the result of one political voice it can be tampered at a whim, as this undermines the entire plan and highlights the fragile political environment we all live in”.

Their comments come in the wake of statements by both Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer' Moran and local senator Gabrielle McFadden confirming that Athlone is to receive the designation as the growth centre for the midlands in the new Government plan for the next 20 years, Ireland 2040.

“There is no urban settlement in the Midlands capable of achieving growth in a 20-year cycle that would give it the critical mass to be considered a second-tier city to European norms,” the chambers say.

They said the Midlands is characterised by regional interdependencies and principal towns of regional importance.

“Athlone IT serves the 3rd level education needs of the entire region and is on a development pathway to achieving technological University status. Similarly, Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore is designated as the future trauma centre for the Midlands serving a regional population of 405,820.”

The Chambers have stated that a designation of the Midlands as a specific “region within a region” of the Eastern and Midland Regional Authority to allow each town to grow by a minimum rate of 40% over the next 20 years is more in keeping with enhancing the region as a whole and ensuring depopulation is tackled in the more rural parts of Longford, Westmeath, Offaly and Laois.”