A film studio or water sport centre- councillor has ambitious proposal for West Offaly Power site

The vast West Offaly Power Station site in Shannonbridge could be redeveloped as a film studio or a state-of-the-art water sports centre when it is decommissioned, according to a local councillor.

Fine Gael councillor John Clendennen submitted a motion at this week's Offaly County Council meeting held on Monday calling on the executive “to collaborate with the Just Transition Commissioner and the ESB to maintain Shannonbridge Power Station in its entirety once it ceases to generate electricity, whilst identifying and developing opportunities to utilise the facility for tourism, remote working, cultural and educational purposes that will benefit the village of Shannonbridge and the surrounding area of West Offaly”.

 Speaking to the Offaly Independent this week, Cllr Clendennen stressed that while he is not trying to “fast track” the closure of West Offaly Power Station, which is scheduled for the end of this year, it is important that Offaly County Council, in conjunction with the Just Transition Commissioner, the ESB and the relevant state bodies start looking at proposals for future uses for the facility.

Cllr Clendennen says that before the €200m facility is demolished as required under the ESB's planning application, alternative uses should be explored.

He believes that the site has potential for a range of uses including tourism, culture, enterprise and education.

Given the size of the site, Cllr Clendennen said that it would be a good location for a film studio, “or something along those lines”. He also proposed that a state of the arts water sports facility could be developed on the site

“We should be thinking out of the box. There has been talk of a white water rafting facility in the centre of Dublin. Why not have something like this there?

 “We could also offer people a unique experience of bringing them up the water from Shannonbridge to Clonmacnoise as they would have done in the past,” he said.

The Fine Gael also suggested that the offices there could be converted and used as a remote working hub for people looking to cut down the number of days they are commuting to Dublin.

The Fine Gael man says that the power station could be developed as a museum where future generations could learn about the importance of peat production and electricity generation to Offaly and neighbouring counties.

 “We are talking about a site that cost €200m to develop. The last option should be its demolition. We have to find alternative uses for it and everything should be on the table.”

Cllr Clendennen says that with the creation of a Just Transition fund for the midlands and other funding streams, it is important that plans are put in place now to avail of as much funding as possible for the region.

 “There are so many channels of funding available at the moment that it confuses me to the be honest, but nothing is going to come if we don't have proposals in place. We need to get our thinking caps on. I am not calling to fast track the conclusion of power generation at the plant but we do want to start planning now. We need to be ready to hit the ground running [when it closes],” he said.