The developers of an ambitious €100 million shopping and residential development for the centre of Athlone have claimed the project will not be revived unless it receives the backing of local planners.
Mr John O'Sullivan, of Gallico Developments, said the company will not take any more risks with the project.
His comments come after An Bord Pleanála rejected the original plans for the site, based around the existing Royal Hoey Hotel, in the centre of town.
The proposed development, which would have featured 31 retail units, 211 apartments and 835 car-parking spaces, was firmly rejected by the planning board on December 19th last.
The development would have involved knocking down the landmark Royal Hoey Hotel.
"If we are going forward again, we'll only do so with certain reassurances. We have no intention of taking any further risks," Mr O'Sullivan told local media.
Mr O'Sullivan said he is looking for the full support of the local planners in going forward to An Bord Pleanála.
Since the new year, the developers have been locked in a series of meetings with officials from Westmeath County Council with a view to resubmitting a fresh planning application for the six-acre site.
Since the rejection of the Gallico plans, interest has also been revived in a plan first mooted in 1997 for the town centre, which involved moving the existing Church of Ireland church in Church Street.
The plan would have turned the church sideways to incorporate a shopping centre with a pedestrian plaza onto Church Street.
The Gallico proposals would never have reached the offices of An Bord Pleanála were it not for the sole objection by a local dentist, Dr Michael J. McGrath.
An Bord Pleanála ruled, in a very critical assessment of the entire project, that the development would constitute an "inappropriate approach to the necessary redevelopment of this important town centre site".
The board also said it would seriously injure the amenities of the town and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
It further ruled that the development would not meet the needs of the existing community and promote social integration.
An adequate level of residential amenity for occupants of the residential units was not being provided, and the development would not play its full role in the regeneration and upgrading of the town centre, the board said.
Work on the Athlone centre was due to get under way last December.
It should have been completed within a year to avail of existing tax incentives for town-centre renewal.