Westmeath County Council wrote to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in June 2004 outlining its plans to develop a new county council headquarters at Mullingar, with an anticipated borrowing requirement of €35 million. While no formal application was made for sanction to borrow, the council was advised that the overall allocation for local authority borrowing for office accommodation in 2004 was already fully committed to existing projects. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is examining the office accommodation borrowing requirements for the local government sector in 2005 in terms of the projects which are under way and those which are awaiting sanction to borrow. The Department will be in touch with the relevant local authorities as soon as this is completed.