Navan's Future...Clearing the way ahead for new train station, civic and residential centre

More than twenty years after plans to expand Navan's town centre into the triangle of land between the Trim Road, Carriage Road and the Dan Shaw Road first emerged, it appears that development could finally progress on the valuable land parcel that is also set to accommodate the new central train station for the town.

Back in the early 2000's with the land earmarked for town centre expansion and as a site for a new railway station, developers anxiously sought to snap up lands in the 'triangle' and a bidding war took place between two developers over Navan Pitch and Putt Club's lands that ultimately ended without a deal being made.

There were ambitious plans for a large shopping centre granted planning as part of the first phase of development on lands in the 'triangle' but the economic crash that ensued put any plans for development in that area on hold and the planning permissions expired.

Then four years ago ES Corella Creek Ltd (McAleer & Rushe) put in a new planning application to demolish the warehouses and industrial units in its almost 20 acre land holding within the land 'triangle'. Planning permission was granted to demolish 13 warehouses and level the site and works that recently commenced are now under way to clear the site.

No further planning application has yet been made to indicate what the company plans to do next in terms of development but any future planning application will be informed by a master plan (MP6) that is currently being worked on.

Consultants have been engaged by Meath County Council to develop a masterplan for the lands with input from the landowners and stakeholders in that area, including McAleer & Rushe. This masterplan will provide a blueprint for what the local authority wants to achieve on the lands with the focal point of the plan being the central train station. It is expected that the plan will also include commercial/retail and high density residential.

It is expected that the masterplan will be finalised later this year. A spokesperson for Meath County Council said: “The lands in question are subject to a masterplan, ie masterplan 6 (MP6), with consultants engaged by Meath County Council to develop same.”

A separate masterplan, MP8, is already in place concerning other lands in the Trim Road area where the Swanbrook development is located, which includes lands also owned by McAleer & Rushe.

McAleer & Rushe is a developer, investor and contractor with over 50 years’ experience in the acquisition, design, development and construction of commercial and residential property. It is headquartered in Cookstown, Northern Ireland with offices in London, Belfast and Dublin. The company has delivered projects throughout the UK and Ireland and some of these projects and investments have been, and are, currently in Meath including the now matured housing development 'Canterbrook' on the Trim Road.

Since completing Canterbrook, McAleer & Rushe have continued to invest in the southern area of Navan over a period of time commencing in 2001 to their most recent acquisition in 2018, totalling an additional 37 acres. This brought to 160 acres its holding of zoned lands across three main parcels in Navan.

Just shy of 20 acres of its lands are located in the MP6 area which will be primarily be developed as commercial or retail space to include large food retailer, according to the County Development Plan. The lands are mostly zoned B1 Commercial/Town or Village Centre, but the area where Navan Pitch and Putt Club is located zoned as F1 Open Space.

According to the County Development Plan 'MP6' Masterplan area accommodates lands reserved for the railway line extension, land reservation for the development of a public transport interchange providing a central rail station serving the Navan-Dublin rail line; civic plaza; pedestrian and cycle linkages from the site to the Town Centre and Brews Hill areas; statement buildings of innovative high quality architectural design; a community building; residential uses; and entertainment and cultural uses.

Planning applications are unlikely to be made for the lands until the masterplan process is complete and it will only be when subsequent planning applications are made that full details of exactly what type of development can be expected will become clear. To date the only planning permission in place is for the demolition works.

Planning was granted to ES Corella Creek Ltd in 2021 for the demolition of seven industrial/light commercial structures of varying sizes from 701m2 to 3,541m2 and the levelling off and filling of the lands at Townspark, Carriage Road, Navan and permission was also granted to demolish six units of 60m2, 82m2, 272m2 414m2, 1,305m2 and 1,688m2, and the levelling off and filling of the lands located at Trim Road Industrial Estate on the Trim Road.

It is a condition of planning that prior to any further planning applications being made for development, the applicant will agree a masterplan for the MP6 area with the planning authority.

A preliminary masterplan study was submitted by the company as part of the planning process which suggests a railway station/civic plaza as a focal point with a mix of residential and commercial use with the applicant noting that it was a live document that would evolve and be further developed.

The preliminary plan suggested by ES Corella Creek Ltd includes a large supermarket, a cinema, pocket parks, residential, senior living/nursing home uses, and residential uses. However the masterplan process itself will be led by Meath County Council through its consultants in conjunction with stakeholders in the area.

The lands in the so-called 'triangle' have been long since earmarked for the expansion of the town centre.

As far back as 2002, the Land Use and Transportation Study (LUTS) commissioned by Meath County Council identified the area bound by the Trim, Carriage and Dan Shaw Roads, as the site of a new commercial town centre with the new railway station at its centre.

That study, which was hailed as a blueprint for the development of Navan for the next 30 years, also proposed the pedestrianisation of Trimgate Street, a series of distributor roads circulating the town and a new shopping street along the existing N3.

The study proposed three railway stations - one in an earmarked industrial zone close to the slip road to the M3 and another to the north of the town, where the proposed regional hospital site was located, with the main central station in the triangle parcel of land behind the Trim Road/Carriage Road.

While most of those plans went into abeyance during the subsequent recession, there are still proposals to locate the new railway station in that triangle of land, when the DART style service finally comes to Navan, which is expected to be between 2030 and 2035 under the NTA’s Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy.

Iarnród Éireann appointed consultants for the project last November and said they were hopeful that a preferred route for the project would be identified by the end of 2026.

The project involves a new rail line of approximately 40 kilometres from the existing terminus station at M3 Parkway north of Dunboyne to Navan, delivering direct Navan to Dublin city centre rail services.

Following an initial feasibility study, the project is included in the approved National Transport Authority (NTA) Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022-2042.

Scope and design development and route option selection is currently underway and will include public consultation before a Railway Order (equivalent of planning permission) application to An Bord Pleanála is made in 2027.

In the early 2000s, a number of developers were buying up the “new town centre” lands and in 2004/2005 interest in the area sparked a bidding war among developers for the Navan Pitch and Putt Club's five-acre site at Beechmount. Along with any sale, members were being offered windfalls up to €10,000 each, along with land for a new facility. While the deals being offered fell through, the bids led to a rush of new members to the club.

This week, the Mayor of Navan, Cllr Eddie Fennessy said the site was of huge strategic importance to the long-term development of Navan in terms of transport, retail and residential infrastructure.

“When the train comes to Navan it will be located there. There are also plans to construct a new town centre retail hub and a significant number of residential units on the site.

“We are a long way off that unfortunately and I don't expect a planning application to be lodged by the developers for a few more years. The current works do, however, herald phase one of that long-term plan and it is to be welcomed.”

Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said that the land presents a huge opportunity for the town when development on it moves forward.

“It will have the train station at its centre and is zoned retail and residential. It will be fantastic to see that part of town much of which was derelict for a long time, developed. The future is looking bright and I am looking forward to seeing it developed,” he said.

WHAT MEATH COUNTY COUNCIL SAYS: Navan's future... ‘Rail station and civic plaza will be focal point of new urban quarter’