Laois planners approve altered plan for new filling station in Portlaoise

A major new filling station in Portlaoise has again been given the green light by Laois planners, after its previously approved plans were altered.

Downey's service station on the Dublin Road, one of the busiest stations in Laois, will effectively move two premises down closer to Portlaoise. It will open onto the Colliers Road roundabout which it must reconstruct in a larger format.

The new roundabout replaces a temporary flat small roundabout, on what is a busy junction for traffic to secondary schools, multiple housing estates, and Dublin bound traffic.

The applicant Portlaoise Service Station Ltd, backed by the Downey family of Downey Auto Stop, must build the station within four years before permission expires.

The application had first been approved by Laois planners in 2022 but was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by Applegreen. Despite a recommendation of rejection by their own inspector, ABP upheld the planning approval.

The Downey family also have permission to convert their existing filling station into a car sales and showroom, granted in August 2022.  

The new service station will be be a two storey station on the site of the Leinster Express Business Park on the Dublin Road.

It includes demolition of the former offices of the Leinster Express / Laois Live, now located on lower Main Street.

Construction includes a new two storey petrol filing station and licenced forecourt convenience store comprising of retail shop, delicatessen area, toilets, stores, ATM, seating area with full off-licence to ground floor.  The first floor will have staff facilities with a canteen, offices spaces, plant space and external plant.

There will be a forecourt with canopy, pump islands, signage, illuminated roadside totem signage, services area, Carwash, underground fuel storage tanks. It will have 48 parking spaces including five for EV charging, three disability spaces and six bicycle spaces. It will have a fuel offloading point, a new site entrance, new boundary treatments and landscaping.

It had been due for a decision in October 2024 but Laois planners requested further information. They wanted an updated road safety audit, surface water drainage plan, and queried bicycle and EV parking.

The newly approved altered plan for the new filling station amends its site boundaries, with the added demolition of the former AXA office building, the relocation of previously approved underground tanks, fuel offload and lastly, relocates an increased size carwash and all associated site works including new boundary treatments.

The planners stipulate that lighting must be cowled away from neighbours and from the road. They say that the developer must liaise with Laois County Council to deliver the new roundabout, in the interests of road safety.

One of the planning conditions is that the five year expiry date dates back to the planning approval granted by An Bord Pleanála in early 2024. 

No public submissions were made regarding the application.