New civic centre and age friendly houses planned for Ratoath

Plans for an age-friendly housing development, civic centre and amenity park in the centre of Ratoath are currently on public display with the consultation period set to close on Monday.

Meath County Council has been working on plans for the central site in the growing village for some time and engaged Van Dijk Architects to design the scheme. It includes a new civic centre building, 14 two-bedroom age-friendly bungalows and a landscaped amenity park area.

It also provides for associated parking including accessible, age-friendly and electric vehicle charging spaces, secure bicycle storage, bin storage, public lighting, retaining walls, boundary treatments, and drainage works on the 1.32ha site at Main Street, Ratoath.

As part of the consultation process, an information meeting took place in Ratoath Community Centre on Tuesday evening where Meath County Council officials and represenatives of Van Dijk Architects were on hand to answer questions.

Local councillor Nick Killian said the information meeting was very well attended and that generally the feedback was very positive though some residents of Park View had expressed concern about the proposed access through their estate.

He explained that the intention for the civic building is to have a library downstairs with meeting rooms upstairs which will be available to community groups.

Cllr Killian said it would not be competing with Ratoath Community Centre which is very busy and pointed out that there is a need for additional space for community groups.

"One of the things I am also hoping for is that Gardai would use one of the rooms one or two evenings or mornings a week and create a presence in Ratoath and assist in stamping forms and passports etc," he said.

With 14 age friendly units on the site, he said some sort of community room for elderly services would also be welcome.

At present, people from Ratoath have to travel to Ashbourne or Dunshaughlin to access a library, and while Cllr Killian said they are very good libraries, he said they need to have one to serve the growing population in Ratoath.

"We have an increasing population and an increasing young population in Ratoath. Libraries are cross generational and are used by all ages."

Cllr Killian said feedback will be taken on board and as councillors they will have the opportunity to propose amendments.

"It is in an ideal spot for an elderly person who can walk across to Supervalu and the post office, and the church and shops are all nearby.

"This is something I have been looking for for over 20 years. It is a very special project I want to see concluded and brought to fruition. I hope it gets the full support of Government to get funding for it," said Cllr Killian.

He explained that the age-friendly houses will be funded through the Department of Housing. However, funding has not yet been secured for the civic centre and amenity park and Meath County Council intends to make a funding application under the next round of Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF).

"At the moment we don't have funding but we will get the planning through and have the project shovel ready when applications open again for funding," said Cllr Killian.

He also commented on the amount of older people in the community who enquired from him if they can buy houses there and had explained they were social houses and would not be for sale. "It just proves there is a need for step down houses. I get a lot of calls from people who want to downsize."

He added that 18 age-friendly units for elderly and disabled people are being built by private developer on another site in Ratoath.

The public consultation period in relation to Ratoath Civic Centre and age friendly houses closes on Monday, 12th January. Submissions can be made until then via the eplanning portal by clicking here or by emailing planning@meathcoco.ie.