2020 Vision for Athy - Entire Document - Kildare.ie

Objective 6 Strategic locations of high-density employment opportunities with respect to residential areas
and public transport nodes.
Within the existing Athy Development Plan, limited provision has been made for the location of high-density
employment centres. This cannot be considered appropriate considering the continuous decline in industrial
employment and the increasing demand for office space to cater for the growing services industry. Under this
scenario the imbalance in employment opportunities will continue to contribute to a large number of commuter
trips to neighbouring towns and is therefore contrary to the
sustainable principles of the Study.
Objective 7 Locate schools in areas that will be serviced by
safe walking and cycling routes.
Primary Schools
Scenario A complies fully with this objective, with over 70%
of the town being located within an acceptable walking
distance of a primary school. The potential new primary
schools centrally located at Ardrew and Coneyburrow will
provide direct and safe routes for a large proportion of the
town’s future population, whilst the existing town centre
primary schools will continue to attract children from the north
of the town. However, in providing only one primary school to
the east of the rail line the scenario fails to provide adequate
schooling for residents living in the east of the town. The
railway line will limit access options to schools to the west of
the railway line from the eastern residential areas.
Secondary Schools
It is clear from the assessment that Scenario A meets this
objective in full, with all of the town’s future population living
within acceptable walking distance of a secondary school. A
new secondary school located in the centre of Ardrew will
attract a significant number of slow mode trips from the town’s
future population in the west, whilst Scoil Mhuire, Scoil Eoin
and St Brigid’s will continue to attract pupils from the north
and east of Athy.
Figure 8.3 Walking Assessments from
Residential Areas to Secondary Schools
Objective 8 Locate low-density employment opportunities adjacent to strategic internal distributor and
road links.
Scenario A partially complies with Objective 8. The majority of future low density employment will be located to
the west of the town adjacent the existing IDA park. Although on the periphery of the town, this site will continue
to generate a significant number of cross town trips from people living to the north of the N78. It will also require
HGV traffic to use the southern outer bypass which, given its route to the north of Conneyburrow and through the
Ardrew residential block is only partially suitable for such traffic and will increase the degree of severance of the
areas.
A small site has been zoned for low-density employment along the proposed southern distributor route. This site is
ideally located adjacent to the N78, the new N9 link and the southern bypass route and will therefore remove the
need for excessive HGV traffic along sensitive routes in the town centre. However the scale of the site means that
the full potential of this location has not been met.
Athy IFPLUT Study 68 Final Report December 2004