Long wait continues to build new Laois fire station for Electric Picnic town

A new fire station for Stradbally in Laois is continuing to be progressed through the stages of finance, planning and design, with shovels in the ground still an unknown time away.

Money to build a brand new modern fire station for Stradbally was approved earlier this year by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM).

The next step in the plan has been confirmed by Laois County Council this October.

They say that a design brief will be sent to three different shortlisted architect led teams "in the coming weeks" for tendering. That job is to oversee the design, tendering and construction of the fire station.

The station is the top priority out of the eight stations in Laois for a new building. 

It is 23 years since Laois County Council first identified the new site for it.

Despite the advent of the Electric Picnic festival and regular staging of the National Ploughing Championships nearby bringing over 300,000 a year between them to the area, the town is still relying on a small unsuitable station.

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An upgrade of Mountmellick fire station, first planned in 2015, is showing little progress either.

The council is waiting for the NDFEM's approval since last spring, and the drawing up of a Part 8 planning application is still some months away according to Laois County Council.

That €150,000 upgrade is for a new training tower and a new rear concrete yard, replacing an overgrown area adjacent to the town's park and Owenass River. Tenders were first sought over two years ago.