An application for planning permission for an exciting new leisure complex to be created on the outskirts of Tullamore, Co Offaly, will be lodged with Offaly County Council next week.
Developers plan to build a large championship golf-course, a hotel and apartments and luxury homes on a site close to Durrow Abbey on the Tullamore/Kinnegad road.
The development, which will be one of the most expansive and luxurious built here, may also become the key to unlock access to one of the State's most historic sites.
For some years there has been a problem with public access to the 10th-century Durrow High Cross in Durrow cemetery, but it is understood this development may resolve that issue.
Two years ago, problems of access meant that a £400,000 grant which was available from the European Regional Development Fund could not be availed of.
In the past week the developer has been in contact with local people, including the Durrow High Cross Committee, which has been promoting the cross on the site of the 6th-century church there.
According to a report in the Tullamore Tribune, the committee will not oppose the development on the 1,000 acre site if public access is given to the High Cross. Duchas, the Heritage Service, has been deeply involved in attempting to resolve this situation without success until now. Meanwhile, the pace of development in the midlands continues at breakneck speed with the announcement last week that permission has been sought to build 773 dwellings in Portlaoise.
Mr Sydney Lewis, of Kilgallen and Partners, Main Street, Portlaoise, has applied for planning permission to build the homes at Summerhill and Ballymooney on the outskirts of the town. Portlaoise is set to double in size over the next 10 years.
One local councillor, Mr William Aird, has warned that the town is growing so fast that the Southern Regional Fisheries Board will be forced to object to any more new developments because of possible pollution of the river Triogue.
And, in Tullamore itself, approval has been given for a major town centre development which will see the creation of a new commercial street at a cost of over £20 million.
The development will take place on the old Williams-Waller site. It will include a new urban boulevard, a millennium square and over 5,000 square metres of residential, retail and service units.
The project will also have a 37-bedroom hotel, a drive-through restaurant and a 317-space multi-storey car park.