Athlone

In Athlone, A Key theme framing local understanding of Climate Change is the uncertainty around the River Shannon. This uncertainty also makes it hard to plan. Associations between Climate Change and flooding are dominant. These include concerns over the recurring extreme flood events around the Jolly Mariner, Bogganfin, Golden Island, The Army Barracks and Clonown meaning there is a need to adapt the urban environment to the growing risk of floods and the problematic consequence of building a town of 21 thousand people on a flood plain.

So how do we combat this? In order to combat flooding in densely populated areas a lot of planning must be looked at first. The OPW, County Council, Irish Water and Waterways Ireland are working round the clock in Athlone to build flood defense systems to combat Athlone’s never ending Flood Problem. In 2050 we believe that Athlone’s Flood Defense System will keep the likes of Arcadia (which is only 550m from the river) safe by using reinforced walls which local artists will decorate with their artwork and a continuous pump will be installed in the town to combat flooding rather than destroying the landscape with walls.

But is the Shannon entirely negative? No! We can use the Shannon to our advantage too. In 2050, we would hope to see a Hydro Energy plant installed on the Shannon outside Athlone. This power station could then power 2x the amount of homes in Athlone using sustainable, Renewable energy. Overall, The Water situation in Athlone is a tricky one, but we believe by 2050 we will bring Athlone back to its ‘former glory’ (A not flooded town).

Transport in Athlone is a trick topic and one which is seemingly constantly evolving but never quite there at the point where we can look at our town and say that we have done as much as possible to ensure a sustainable transport model in our town. Recently transport in Athlone has faced major setbacks with Bus Eirrean cancelling major routes that served our town leaving Athlone with no state run alternative to private transport companies which could be detrimental for the people of Athlone as they are forced to ride with companies which may see an opportunity to now exploit them by raising prices.

Our short term goal should be bringing back inter city bus services to Athlone and expanding our own services within the town. It is vital that our public transport network is promoted and used more as it is a valuable part of our town and an invaluable tool in our goal towards net zero emissions. Our long term goal should be electrification of buses especially the fleet of Athlone Bus which operates within the town, increased public transport ridership on top of electrified buses will prove a deadly combo in reducing transport carbon emmissions.

Another area we need to urgently work on is completion of the Athlone segment of the Greenway as well as making the city more walkable in general. In regards to the greenway we see the shannon crossing being built soon which will provide valuable walking infrastructure. In the rest of the town while the one way system was a step in the right direction we need to make a lot of the town car free and work to ensure proper, frequent and efficient public transport and walkable streets.

The status of Athlone not just in legal terms but in other terms has constantly changed throughout history. From being the gateway to the west throughout the early modern period to now being a modern university town serving as a crucial centre of development and sustainability in the midlands. As we move towards the future it is vital that the Irish government recognizes our integral role and makes the move towards city status, currently the midlands has no city and despite being increasingly urbanised still has no centre. Athlone can and should serve as this.

We also must face the fact that Athlone has no unified local authority and while both Roscommon and Westmeath County Councils have aimed to cooperate the simple fact is this is not enough. By 2050 we need to strive at the very least for frequent meetings between Athlone councillors on both sides of the border and ideally a reintroduction of Athlone town council in order to better coordinate among other things the future of sustainability in Athlone.

There is a whole host of other issues that could be dived into here however for now I shall focus on our main assets here in Athlone. TUS, retail outlets like Arcadia, Golden Island and the Town Centre, etc. Athlone is as mentioned many times at a turning point and we must take advantage of what we have, fix issues with those things and make Athlone into a town everyone can be proud of.

Regarding TUS, student accommodation is becoming increasingly scarce and it is a full on crisis at this stage. This is also not just a student accommodation issue but a town wide (and indeed nation wide) housing crisis. We must turn our backs on urban sprawl and low density family housing and turn towards mid density, 2-5 story neighborhoods in order to create a more sustainable Athlone where wide scale public transit is more possible.

It is also vital that we protect our public spaces, expanding parks and wildlife in Athlone is of vital importance not only for sustainability but for fostering community and while the current levels of parks and non commercial social spaces may be acceptable it will not be as Athlone continues to grow.

As can be seen there is much we could do and while many ideas mentioned are long term projects there is also plenty short term projects that can be worked on such as increasing the number of rubbish bins available, increasing the number of EV chargers to facilitate growing demand and much more.