Fury at Robinstown sport centre standstill

Fury is building among councillors over the delay in progress on the provision of a new swimming pool and sports centre at Robinstown – first approved now five years ago.

The project missed out in a bid to secure funding three years ago, and councillors say their belief is that if the design work was done and planning permission secured, there is a better chance of the project qualifying for funding in the future.

Cllr Andrew Duncan, who raised the subject at the December meeting of Westmeath County Council was disappointed to learn that the Department of Sport and the Gaeltacht had recently rejected the council’s appeal over the decision not to award it funding under Stream 1 of the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund.

Unanimously, speakers at the meeting backed his call that the council cover the cost of design and obtaining planning permission from funds members have been setting aside annually for the construction.

Cllr Duncan reminded the meeting that it was he and Cllr John Shaw who had, five years ago, put forward the proposal that the sports centre be provided.

“A huge amount of work went into the original motion to proceed with the Robinstown campus,” he stated, recalling that the motion was widely supported, and councillors were happy to put aside funds for it.

“I was optimistic at that stage that at least by now we would have proceeded to the beginning of a build – but the reality is it has stalled,” he said.

“I have put a number of questions through over the last few years to see what way best to progress it, but after putting forward numerous motions in the last few years for different things, like the parks at Penneys, Grange and Clonmore, and the advance factory at Marlinstown, I have become firmly convinced that the only real way of getting anything – or certainly a key milestone in the progression of one of these projects – is through a grant of planning permission. Certainly when it comes to Robinstown, I think it’s the key milestone – and we’d certainly be in a much stronger position applying for it next time around if we had planning permission,” he said.

Cllr Duncan went on to say that he understood that all of the projects that did apply for Stream One funding that had planning permission, were approved.

“I think that pretty much sums it up, so I’d be grateful for the support of the members to progress this,” he said.

Cllr Duncan added that the community group that has become involved has given the project “absolutely huge momentum”.

Responding to Cllr Duncan’s motion, the council executive stated that the council had recently learned from the Dept of Sport and the Gaeltacht that its decision on the funding application under Stream 1 would remain unchanged.

The response continued: “Westmeath County Council is committed to the delivery of the proposed Mullingar Regional Sports Centre and in the context of the clarity recently provided by the department, is considering next steps in how best to achieve this outcome, including the self-funding of the design phase in the short term.

In order to maximise the potential to secure capital funding as and when the opportunity arises in the future.”

Supporting Cllr Duncan, Cllr John Shaw remarked that for the Sports Capital Programme, the requirement generally is that projects generally need to have planning permission.

As the council has money set aside for the centre, it “surely [made] sense” to sort the planning permission question, he said. Cllr Shaw remarked that the members of the executive of the council had always been supportive of the project, and were anxious to see it come to fruition.

“There is massive demand [for it] out there, right throughout Westmeath and not just in Mullingar,” he said.

Support came too from Cllr Ken Glynn, who pointed out that Fine Gael’s Cllr Duncan and Cllr Shaw, of Fianna Fáil, had five years ago taken a united approach on the project, 100 per cent supported by the members of Westmeath County Council, and with behind-the-scenes support from both Deputy Robert Troy and Minister Peter Burke.

However, he continued, it was frustrating that the project had still not come to fruition, especially given that the council has been setting aside money for it each year. “It’s time to start moving: Mullingar, for a town of its size, should not be without the facility that we are seeking,” he concluded.

Cllr Hazel Smyth supported the idea of using some of the funds put aside to fund the planning application and design process. . “We do need to move forward with this project: it is definitely needed,” she said, agreeing that there is cross-party support.

Cllr Denis Leonard pointed out that building costs are rising by about 14 percent each year, meaning the monies aside for the sports campus are being “eaten away by inflation”.

“Are we going to throw good money after bad by kicking down the road a facility that should have been built probably 10 years ago, when it could have been built for a fraction of the cost?” he asked.

Agreement too came from Cllr Bill Collentine: “We all know with the size of the town there is a need for a sports complex,” he stated, while Cllr Mick Dollard said people in Mullingar feel both let down and annoyed over the issue, especially since it appears “Athlone has everything”, and he backed Cllr Leonard’s point about the fund for the sports centre being eroded by inflation.

“I think we need to give people out there some hope,” he said.

Westmeath County Council chief executive Pat Gallagher responded that there is no conflict between the elected members and the staff on the importance of “this key high-priority” project. He stated that staff are working on avenues to take the project forward.

Mr Gallagher said the proposal to the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund was one place below the last project approved under the scheme. “We now have to consider what the next steps are,” he said, adding that it has been indicated that there might be another call under the Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund scheme towards the end of 2023, and there did seem merit in going ahead with the planning and design work in anticipation of that.

Cllr Duncan reiterated that it was his belief that if they had had planning permission in place, they would have succeeded with the application for capital funding. On the possibility that there will be an opportunity for Mullingar to apply for funding again next year he said: “We have to have a design of the project and planning permission by then.”