The expert advice given to a Laois town with a 50% commercial vacancy rate

A Laois town where half of the commercial buildings lie vacant or derelict, has received expert paid advice from KPMG consultants.

Rathdowney in the south of the Midlands county has a new Town Centre First Plan which provides expert suggestions to help the town attract renewed business and social life.

The suggestions could be applied to many other towns which customers have deserted in favour of supermarkets and online shopping.

Half of the commercial units on Rathdowney's Main Street when surveyed last year were vacant or derelict, outlined in the report.

Laois County Council officials with members of Rathdowney Town Team launching the new plan for the town.

It does note that some are now being renovated as private dwellings, while cautioning the negative effect this may have on commercial centres.

One street in Rathdowney even had seven vacant properties in a row, “having a major negative impact”.

The new report also note that in places the footpaths are either “narrow or non-existent” with traffic commonly parking on paths, and there are no dedicated cycle paths.

A traffic survey found a low level of passing traffic, a maximum of two per minute, or 130 over an hour in a peak Saturday shopping time. 

There was no bus service to the train station in Ballybrophy close by, and there is only one bus stop in the town which had no signage. The town had limited bus connection elsewhere, cutting opportunities for employees or shoppers to travel by public transport.

The consultants set out ways to improve the Midlands town.

Among the suggestions for Rathdowney's rejuvenation is to launch a new market and an annual arts festival.

Other actions are to explore and advertise to open a café or restaurant, and to find tourism opportunities.

They suggest building a sheltered market area in the Town Square, similar to the one in Stradbally, to create a social space for events like farmers markets, and cut down the parking spaces which they say are too plentiful.

"The square should be the social heart of Rathdowney,” they said.  

Cleaning up the pond next to the Dawn Meats processing plant to use it for swimming, kayaking and fishing is another novel idea. More on that suggestion here.

“Such developments would stimulate economic activity, drive visitor footfall and lead to a more vibrant and liveable space," the report says.

It also proposes a bus link to Ballybrophy train station because the lack of public transport was highlighted by local people in a survey.

It suggests widening footpaths, adding streetlights, and placing formal parking spaces on one side only of the main street and installing traffic calming, all to encourage more pedestrian traffic.

A landscaping strategy to increase biodiversity is suggested too, and making sure there are enough electric car chargers for residents along the streets.

Their solutions include some actions that the council is already doing, such as contacting vacant property owners to encourage intervention, and considering compulsory purchases of vacant buildings.

They also suggest establishing a Rathdowney Town Team, which has already recently formed with the aim to make actions in the plan a reality.

The plan was launched to the local community last week. Read all about the launch here. 

In the meantime, the Town Team is welcoming suggestions and ideas from the local community. The town is also lit up in style this Christmas for visitors and for locals, thanks to the busy Christmas Street Lights committee. Full interview here.