Neill O’Neill
WESTPORT businessman Martin Brennan is applying to Westport Town Council for permission to build 184 houses and a retirement village at Cloonmonad, on the outskirts of the town.
A notice submitted to the local authority outlines his intention to apply for a development on his land between the Quay Road and the West Road, which will consist of 184 residential units, a 22-bedroom nursing home, and 16 assisted residential units – as part of the retirement village. A creche, along with substantial car-parking space and landscaping works, also forms part of the application for the site, which straddles almost 17 acres of farmland running just off the R335 Louisburgh Road. The cost of the development is expected to run to tens of millions. The entire landbank in the area is some 34 acres – the other half of which is owned by local property developer, Tom Joyce. He secured planning permission for 105 residential units and a creche on a section of his portion of the land last year.
Described by Martin Brennan as ‘the last bit of green grass between the ‘old town’ of Westport and the ‘new town’ at the Quay’, the land runs parallel to the Railway Walk from the McConville Park football pitch, down in the direction of the Westlands housing estate. Access to the development will be via the West Road and the new bridge over the Railway Walk, which was the subject of much controversy when it was built by the Council.
“This development will consist of five different housing designs and there will be a lot of variation between them,” Martin Brennan told The Mayo News. “The area is zoned residential and we have engaged in extensive pre-planning with the Council. Nothing can be decided until we know the outcome of the application so I don’t yet know when construction might begin. “Between my site and the adjacent land, it could be four or five years or more before the entire landbank is developed, and hopefully it will help this area of the town to blossom.”
