Council turn down plans to develop Ardeevin House site

Westmeath County Council planners have refused permission for a substantial gated residential development on the Dublin Road in Mullingar.

Danny McGee of Comegh Business Park, Kilbeggan, made an application to the local authority last March to develop the site at Ardeevin House, Bellview, Dublin Road, Mullingar.

The application covered the development and change of use of a protected structure, Ardeevin House, Bellview.

The application was for an overall development of 14 new residential units. It was to be made up of six two-bedroom, two-storey terraced maisonette-style apartments; three three-bedroom, three-storey terraced maisonette-style apartments; one three-storey duplex building (two units) comprising a two-bedroom ground-floor apartment and a three-bedroom first- and second-floor maisonette-style apartment.

The plans were to demolish and reconstruct the existing derelict protected structure and change its use from a single private dwelling to three one-bedroom apartments.

The proposed work on the protected structure included internal alterations, the alteration of selected existing external window openings to form new access door openings including an overhead canopy, the alteration of an existing door opening to form a new window opening, and the provision of a new screened private open space at existing flat roof level together with all associated works.

The development also suggested the inclusion of 14 car parking spaces, one motorcycle parking space, cycle parking, bin storage, private and communal open spaces, hard and soft landscaping, boundary treatments.

The boundary treatment would include a controlled pedestrian entrance gate within the existing front stone boundary wall, alterations to the entrance including the widening of the existing access, construction of new entrance piers and the installation of controlled gates and all associated site development and ancillary work.

The site was once part of the former Clonard House demesne and retains a section of rubble stone wall of the attendant grounds along its southern boundary.

Access to the site from Dublin Road is through a curved bell mouth entrance. The property, located on a main road in and out of Mullingar occupies a visually prominent profile, emphasised by its architectural styling, prominent chimney stacks and unique window openings.

The inventory of Irish Architecture describes it as a “rare example of a Modern Movement house” which retains its early form and character despite being derelict and out of use since 2005.

The inventory says it is quite unusual to find a house of that type and date in a provincial town in Ireland and this example may well be unique within County Westmeath.

In 2023 Mr McGee sought to have the listed property removed from the record of protected structures, saying it was unmaintained since before 2000 and has suffered severe deterioration, with evidence of vandalism, fire damage, and graffiti.

Much of the internal fittings and finishes of the property no longer survive, and the bare blockwork masonry is exposed.

An objectors to the development project, Gary Moss, said in a submission to the local authority that the three stories facing Bellview were at a “height and location [that] are unacceptable”.

Mr Moss said: “Specifically, the height of the site being the highest point locally and probably the whole of Mullingar will be despoiled by the appearance of these units dominating the skyline.”

The local authority cited three reasons for declining the application.