Deadline for big housing plan on derelict Laois shopping centre site

A major housing development is promised on the derelict site of a once iconic Laois shopping centre.

There is a deadline ticking down for the owners of the Centrepoint site in Portlaoise to apply for planning permission, before they start incurring further planning penalties.

The shopping centre, built by the Shaws department store family business, was vacated nearly two decades ago. After falling derelict the last building was knocked in 2021. The large site lies idle since, incurring fines.

Now Laois County Council has confirmed that there is a six month deadline on the owners to start planning for houses. If the owners get planning permission, they will have another five year deadline to build.

The burnt Centrepoint in 2021.

Director of Services Angela McEvoy gave an update at the July council meeting.

"Part of the site is on the derelict sites register, part on the vacant sites register. There is a LRD (large residential development) in that. They are going through the process with the planning section. Within six months they have to have a planning application lodged," Ms McEvoy said.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley called it "the biggest eyesore in Portlaoise town".

"Others have had motions on this too. I want the powers that be, small as they are, utilised. People are sitting on vacant sites. Centrepoint is as valuable as any. We are in the middle of a housing crisis. I want to see houses plus amenities. I know there is a plan for a community element. You might have the benefit of knowing, but we need to see this built. That site is a blight on our town," she said.

Last December she along with Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald demanded reports on the plans for Centrepoint and another idle derelict site in Portlaoise town. 

The site is listed as an "opportunity site" in the Laois County Development Plan and Portlaoise Local Area Plan for the past few years. It is zoned for mixed use, giving several options. It runs from the Mountrath Road to Harpur’s Lane.

The plan describes it as a "brownfield retail site located at Mountrath Road, with access also from Harpurs Lane, an extensive surface car park, a prime location for re-development, not located within an Architectural Conservation Area, with no protected structures within the site.

"Public realm improvements would be beneficial and should seek to maximise green and blue infrastructure through landscape design. Potential for active travel permeability. Development could be intensified to provide a key landmark or gateway building. 

"Care should be taken that this building addresses the extensive street frontage available and be designed to an exceptional standard. Development shall comprise a high quality design, fine grained active frontage blocks providing a strong built edge to the surrounding public thoroughfare. New buildings should be permanent, timeless and contemporary structures. Car parking should be provided to the rear of the building or within the structure itself," the plan states.

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The shopping centre was still owned by the Shaw family until recent years. A fire on the site in March 2021 led Laois County Council to step in ordering its owners to secure the property which had become a den for anti-social activity. 

The 2.31 hectare site is incurring fines on Laois County Council's Derelict Sites list. It is also liable for Residential Zoned Land Tax, designed to tackle landowners sitting on housing development lands.

Last year a Laois enterprise hub owner revealed a local group's plan to use the Centrepoint site for a 40,000 sq ft mixed-use development to include retail, offices, a digital innovation and agriculture technology training space.