Offaly publican planning scheme of townhouses

FIVE townhouses are being lined up for a site in Tullamore by a company which is active in the local pub market.

The two-storey three-bedroom houses are being planned at Riverside near the town centre, close to the roundabout at St Mary's Youth Centre and Henry (O'Carroll) Street and opposite Tullamore College.

Droughill Builders Ltd is the applicant, a Portarlington, Co Laois based company whose director is Trevor Whelan.

An architect engaged by Droughill described the development as an “urban infill project” which will respond to the “surrounding housing typology and urban nature of the site”.

Planning permission was granted in December 2019 at the same site to a different applicant, Vinkala Ltd, where the directors were John Carroll and Breda Carroll.

They initially sought consent for 12 apartments in a three-storey block but this was scaled back to five townhouses after the planning authority expressed concern about the number of car parking spaces which would be needed.

In this new application the townhouses are capped at 9.5 metres and the overall size of the windows on the front of the houses has been reduced.

When the 0.2 acre site was put on the market by Power Property one of its selling points was that it had been zoned 'town centre' under the Tullamore town and environs development plan 2010-2020.

Submissions on the application can be made by December 10 and a decision is due by January 9, 2026.

READ NEXT: Company takes over third Offaly pub this year

Droughill Builders Ltd has been active in the local pub market this year and has taken over the Palace Bar in Birr, Hoppers in Walsh Island and Fergie's, Market Square, Tullamore.