Harbour Street needs to benefit from Mullingar Settlement Area Plan

Thomas Lyons

The ability of Westmeath County Council to deliver on the Settlement Area Plan for Mullingar has been called into question by one of the county town’s residents.

Zoning, housing and sustainable development rank high on the local authority’s local area plan for Mullingar.

The location of the county town in the ‘gateway region’ and its designation as a ‘key town’ acknowledge that it provides important connections with adjoining regions and has the capacity for future growth potential to accommodate above average growth.

Although supporting an expanding population is the primary objective of a plan that sets out a framework for development up to 2030, there’s a strong emphasis on the type of town Mullingar will become.

Mullingar Settlement Area Plan 2025-2031 highlights opportunities for Mullingar on housing, regeneration projects and developments in general.

Not everyone is impressed by the ambitious plans drawn up by the council executive: “The plan for Robinstown and the Blackhall projects have been on the agenda in one form or another for the last 17 years. Back then, the cost was €20m – now it is estimated at €75m and they are still only at the planning stage,” one Mullingar town resident said.

“I’m still fighting the fight on Harbour Street and fighting for pride in the town. A group of residents and businesses on the street made a public realm submission in April 2013,” Terry Toal explained to the Examiner. “When the council received that submission, they said, ‘we wish more people had taken interest in the town and to put forward details like this’.”

The 2013 strategy document put forward a detailed vision of the potential the Harbour Street offered: “It had plans for the pathways in the street, a cycle lane, putting the utilities underground, and coherent signage. All these things were to instil a sense of pride and update the look of an area of significant heritage value that has been largely ignored since the 1960s,” said Terry.

From Harbour Quay to the charming late 19th-century red brick buildings, Harbour Street has an impressive concentration of features in a town rich with architectural heritage.

But, Terry says, the opportunity to invest in the cultural resources of the area has been squandered by the local authority over a number of years. “Harbour Street is the key entry point to the town, yet the Public Realm Enhancement Plan we submitted in 2013 has languished in the county council offices, despite being welcomed with an enthusiastic response at that time and subsequently by council officials,” Terry said.

“The whole street has been in need of serious attention, but not only Harbour Street, look at Austin Friars Street, and Patrick Street and other areas of the town. We’ve had 17 years of the Robinstown, Blackhall story. There are about three different renovations of it, particularly Blackhall. Back in 2009 Blackhall was going to be a major shopping complex, then there was another one in 2019.”

Terry has a long memory. He points out that a Mullingar Municipal District meeting in September 2014 recognised the importance of Harbour Street as part of an architectural conservation area and proposed preparing a strategy for regeneration: “There is still no strategy yet.

“I have written specifically to individual council members and the chief executive, basically outlining my frustration, and neither of the senior officials acknowledge the communication.”

Westmeath County Council’s latest Local Area Plan for Mullingar is put forward as a draft vision of what might be accomplished in the coming years and what the town and surrounds might look like.

Although Terry appears to lack a little faith in the ability of the local authority to deliver on the ambitions of the plan, he still sees it as an opportunity: “Now is the time to be clear on key items, the resources needed and focused on what is possible.

“In the meantime, the council need to do the local regeneration of the key entry points to the town we have today. All it will take is leadership, clear goals, perseverance and a passion to deliver.”

The Local Area Plan for Mullingar is set to be adopted in April of 2026.