Plans drawn up for swimming pool in Loughrea
An application for planning permission to build a swimming pool on the site of the Lough Rea Hotel and Spa will be lodged within weeks, the Connacht Tribune has learned.
Bringing to an end a 70-year saga to construct a public swimming pool for the town, Supermac’s Chief and owner of the hotel, Pat McDonagh, has engaged designers to draw up a plan for the a pool and leisure centre on the site.
Once this stage is complete, an application for planning will be lodged with Galway County Council – and once approval is granted, it is anticipated works will begin immediately, with a construction timeline of ten to twelve months.
Mr McDonagh first announced his plans for the site adjacent to the hotel in April of last year – adding to the four-star property’s facilities and available to the public as well as guests.
And according to Mr McDonagh, they have been working until now to ensure that the “runway is cleared” to proceed with a planning application and and to push ahead with work on a facility that Loughrea has been waiting on for many years.
“We are hoping to lodge planning permission inside the next two months and we’ve just cleared the way to do that,” said Mr McDonagh.
“We are looking forward to getting that in and, subject to planning permission, getting it started in the Autumn of this year – and built within a year,” he continued.
Since he made the announcement last year, Mr McDonagh said there has been huge interest from locals and this has only strengthened his view that it will be a much-used facility in the town.
“The amount of enquiries and the amount of local interest in it has been noteworthy and it gives you great confidence that it will work – and that there is a great need for it.
“Loughrea is a substantial town that needs facilities like this for local people, for local sports teams, or even from a tourism point of view, for visitors,” said Mr McDonagh.
The Supermacs founder, who brought the Lough Rea Hotel back from the brink when he purchased it in 2014, said he is “delighted” to be able to proceed with these plans which will add to the town’s attraction.
A public swimming pool has for a long time been an elusive goal for Loughrea, with the facility first proposed back in 1948.
Despite several fundraising drives and huge public support – and following a number of broken political promises – the plans never came to fruition.
Many feared their aspirations had reached the end of the road when it was announced last year that the Loughrea Swimming Club Committee had purchased a 26-acre field on the town bypass for use by local sports and community organisations – using much of the money raised for a pool.
But according to Mr McDonagh, they can now look forward to a new pool as once planning permission is granted, they’re “ready to motor fairly soon on it”.