Big housing development in part of Laois town hit by flooding in 2017

A major housing development has been given the green light Mountmellick in a part of the town that flooded in 2017.

Cubic Housing Ltd has been granted conditional permission to build 49 houses in Townspark. The plan was approved subject to 32 conditions despite a local objection to the development. 

Cubic Housing plans to build 28 three-bed houses, eight one-bed duplexes and 13 two-bedroom houses on a green field site just off Wolfe Tone Street and to the rear of Pattion's estate along Emmett Street. 

The plan also provides for a communal waste storage pavilion, bicycle storage, internal roads and footpaths and surface level car parking.

An entrance point to adjoining public roads, pedestrian links, public lighting, landscaping, public open space, boundary treatments, provision of foul and surface water disposal, upgrade works and traffic calming to the surrounding road network and all associated site works were included in the plan. 

A Site Specific Flood Risk Assessment was carried out by IE Consulting as part of the planning application. 

While land was in a badly hit part of the town in November 2017, the report concluded that: “Development of the site is not predicted to result in an adverse impact to the hydrological regime of the area or to increase flood risk elsewhere and is therefore considered be appropriate from a flood risk perspective”.

“The primary flood risk to the proposed development site can be attributed to a fluvial flood event in the Pound Stream and /or the Owenass River.

“A limited area of the proposed development site at the north-western and south-western corners may be impacted due to the occurrence of an extreme 1% AEP (1 in 100 year) fluvial flood event, however no development is proposed within this area of the site. This area shall only be utilised as green open space area,” the report stated. 

A contract was signed in October 2019 to design and implement of a Flood Relief Scheme in Mountmellick. Defences are yet to be installed.

Local resident Kieran Webb objected to the plans which he believed would increase traffic and adversely impact the market value of houses in Pattison’s Estate and be detrimental to road safety.

“Residents in Pattison's Estate have been enduring ongoing noise pollution for the past two years, as a result of the unusually prolonged construction of ten residential units at the rear of the estate. Noise pollution has included drills, grinders, and reverse driving alarms, occurring Monday to Friday, often starting at 08:00 and not finishing until 17:00,” Mr Webb claimed. 

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He expressed a belief that Laois County Council should carry out an audit of the development. 

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