‘Future housing should be in Robinstown area’

Future housing development for Mullingar in the short and medium term should be built in the Robinstown area, the local chamber of commerce has suggested.

In its submission on the Mullingar Local Area Plan 2024-2030 to Westmeath County Council, the chamber noted that the draft Local Area Plan has not mentioned how much land is zoned for new development and how many units could be accommodated.

The chamber said that, based on its estimates, Mullingar needs enough zoned land, at least 100 hectares, to accommodate 3,000 new homes. That is based on the assumption that around one third (1,000 homes) would be developed during the six-year lifespan of the plan.

Regarding the location of the new homes, the chamber says that while the “entire environs” of the town are mentioned in the draft area plan, it believes that the plan “needs to be much more specific on where this future development is to be located”.

The chamber added that any future development needs to be on lands “in a logical location close to schools, the hospital and exiting roads and water and IT infrastructure” and that Robinstown is the most suitable location.

“Inside the link road there is c100ha of land that could accommodate a significant amount of this development and a further 200ha of land outside the link road [but] inside the N4 that could provide further expansion.

“We would welcome a strategic approach to how this land might be developed to accommodate all the residential development required as well as the ancillary services thereto [retail, leisure] and how this significant development could be linked back to the old town centre by way of pedestrian infrastructure to connect the old and the new and try and retain an identity of the town, while facilitating growth as set out.

“Some of the reasons we have identified Robinstown for this purpose is that it is located close to all required infrastructure, built at a cost of tens of millions of euro to the taxpayer; it is relatively easy to connect to the town centre, highly accessible, has reasonably good topology and a relatively small number of landowners for such a large piece of land that might enable development.

“Over time, we would see Mullingar west become a focus for development, once Robinstown matures.

“We note that the vast majority of development in the town in recent years [completed and planned] is located to the south-east of the town and think this location would balance the town growth in the medium and long term,” the chamber submission reads.