Laois town ready to reveal 3D plan for its growing future

Residents of a Laois town will get a glimpse of a bright future in 3D, at a launch of a new town plan this week.

Mountrath is near the Slieve Bloom Mountains with a population of some 1800 people. It is getting its first town plan, to pave the way to apply for grants.

The Sustainable Communities Plan took three years to complete thanks to Covid delays, and is hoped to set the former market town on the right track for future growth.

The town is now home to the successful BloomHQ community and business hub and is near the M7 motorway. Howover in recent decades it had suffered from shop closures with many younger people opting to move away to work.

The Mountrath Town Strategy Group are now launching the plan along with a computer simulation of Mountrath's Future Vision, an online 3D viewer created by UrbanARQ, to go live on launch night on April 18 in St Fintan's Hall.

Gina Reidy is joint chairperson of Mountrath Town Strategy Group.

"This is a great opportunity for all the different clubs and groups to go forward and apply for funding. It is great after all these years to have a town plan for Mountrath. It has taken a huge effort in the town, we had public meetings and workshops with businesses, groups and the individual people of the town. Funding wasn't available to us because we had no plan. 

"We aim to bring more employment and tourism and allow people to have more recreational spaces. It can bring people in from outside the town, to develop and grow it, and create facilities to keep our youth here, and activities for the elderly," Gina said.

The 3D viewer is exciting she said.

"It is cool to see it in a 3D effect, the company who created it UrbanARQ had shown it to groups in its development stage and they were able to suggest changes and swaps. It's almost like a video game, you can move to see different perspectives. I hope it's the start of an exciting time for Mountrath, there are lots of opportunities for everyone," the group chairperson said.

She thanked Laois County Council and Laois Partnership  for their help in formulating the plan.

The plan includes policies and projects to positively impact the economic, social, infrastructural, visual and ongoing development of the community.

The official launch takes place on Tuesday evening, April 18 at 7.30pm in St Fintans Hall, in the church grounds. All are welcome.

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The project is funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development.