Medieval past showing up on new pool site in town centre

Eilís Ryan

Portions of medieval or post-medieval Mullingar’s boundary defences have been uncovered by archaeologists examining the Blackhall site earmarked for development of the swimming pool and gym elements of the new regional sports centre.

The council’s head of regeneration and capital projects, Anne-Marie Corroon, told the members of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District that the site is adjacent to an architectural conservation area.

“The footprint of the old town wall traverses through the site on the southern boundary along the rail embankment, and the site is within the zone of archaeological potential,” Ms Corroon said.

As a result of the investigations held to determine what archaeology there may be on the site, some linear features, pits and field boundaries were discovered: “The main find really was that there was a ditch that likely represents the post-medieval or potential medieval defences of the town,” she revealed.

Ms Corroon explained that a report has now been sent to national monuments survey team, who will make recommendations based on that archaeological reporting.

She said the main outcome of the explorations conducted to date was that no evidence was found of the level of archaeology that had been found years earlier in the area of the mural wall, which related to a friary.

Sports Centre

Updating on progress on the regional sports centre, Ms Corroon said that in the last quarter, the team has undertaken design consultation with all sports organisations who will be using the sports centre, including groups such as Swim Ireland, Tennis Ireland, Badminton Ireland and Volleyball Ireland.

The team has also spoken to the local sporting groups that will be using the facility such as the Mullingar Pool Action Group, Mullingar Jets Swimming Club, Mullingar Canoe Polo Group. Also solicited were the views of the staff of the current swimming pool.

That had led to some tweaks in the design, both at Robinstown, where the outdoor pitches are to be located, and to the Blackhall complex. The redesign had facilitated the inclusion of a full-size GAA pitch at Robinstown.

The Blackhall site is to have a splashpad for children, the main 25-metre swimming pool and a 20-metre teaching pool.

The complex will also include a gym, the main sports hall, and a number of aerobic and holistic studios.Ms Corroon said that thanks to the engagement by sporting organisation, she felt all were happy that the building could provide what’s needed for everyone and that it would be future-proof.

Parking survey

As part of the preparation for development of the sports centre, Ms Corroon said, a four-day parking survey of the town was conducted at the start of April. The data collected will take a number of weeks to process, “and that survey will then inform our strategy for parking for the development”, she stated.

Next step

As the next step in the development, the design refinements are being finalised and there is to be further stakeholder engagement, Ms Corroon said, adding that the council would be endeavouring to hold a public information evening in advance prior to lodging the planning application.

“We’ll then finalise the preliminary design process and commence the planning process. And then, towards the end of this year, we hope to commence the procurement of a detailed design team,” she stated.

Cllr Emily Wallace asked if the sports complex would include a commercial space that could accommodate a café and shop area.

Cllr Andrew Duncan raised a query on where any necessary additional parking could be located, a subject of interest also to Cllr Bill Collentine, while Cllr David Jones asked if the present swimming pool would remain open once the new one is ready.

Cllr Denis Leonard said it would be great if the new town bus service was to include a route that would take people out to Robinstown, and Cllr Julie McCourt was concerned that the parking survey was conducted during a period of good weather, when practice might be different to that pertaining during less favourable conditions.

The mayor, Cllr Ken Glynn, remarked that there are many clubs keen to be able to use the facilities at Robinstown, including Mullingar Town AFC, who are “crying out for pitch spaces”. It was, he said, “hugely important” that the facilities were all-encompassing, so that all clubs had a chance to be involved.

He also had concerns over traffic and parking: “Is it possibly the case that we would have to rip up the whole traffic plan in Blackhall and restart again, given the numbers that this will bring, and given the traffic and the impact that it will have in that general area?” he asked, querying also the extent to which the complexes would impact on Mullingar town traffic.

“Now is the time to be teasing that out,” he said.

A final query by Cllr Glynn related to the timeline: “When do you anticipate that we can physically see funding in place and ready to go bricks to mortar and get the project moving?” he asked.

Responding, Ms Corroon said the facility in Robinson would be run as a community facility, and it would be open to all clubs to use: “I suppose as a local authority running the facility, we will have to identify who has the most need for the facilities and prioritise people who have the bigger need for the use of the facilities if there is large demand on it,” she stated.

Car parking

On the question of the Blackhall portion, she said the majority of the building would go on the greenfield site there, although there will be some encroachment on the existing car park at the location where the fleadh stage was located.

“So there will be a reconfiguration of the parking in Blackhall and there will be a net loss likely of parking in Blackhall car park,” she told the meeting, stating that the parking survey undertaken at the start of April would identify where there’s parking available in Mullingar at any time during the day.

Based on the results of that, the design team would be engaging with the district engineers and the council’s transportation section on a parking strategy for Mullingar, identifying potential alternative parking locations in the town that can potentially be used for parking and how parking can be reconfigured in the town, and areas where car parks could be reconfigured to hold more cars.

In terms of the impact on the movement of traffic, Ms Corroon said that the project team is engaging with Systrans, who have been doing a traffic survey of Mullingar.

However, she continued, experience elsewhere has shown that with sports centres, traffic tends to swap with the work day traffic.

Responding to Cllr Glynn’s query on a timeframe, Ms Corroon said the project is funding dependent, and the project team does not know when the next funding calls are going to come about.

“We are engaging with the department in relation to the €2m funding that was allocated for the next phase of the project, which is the design phase. Thereafter, we don’t know when the next funding is going to become available but we are – the management team – exploring every avenue to pursue that funding for the construction,” she stated.

Ms Corroon said that it might be possible to provide “maybe coffee facilities”, for users of the centre, but it was more envisaged that the centre should be a driver for economic activity in the town: “We want people to be coming to this sports complex and then going down the town and using the current ratepayers’ businesses that are in the town,” she said.

Cost

Director of services, Deirdre Reilly, stated that the estimated cost of the centre is €75m: “We really need to be talking to our government colleagues in relation to the investment in this, especially with the National Development Plan coming up in the next couple of months,” she said.