Decision made on first key project of Mountmellick Town Centre First plan

The first key project of the Mountmellick Town Centre First plan has been identified and other areas in Laois could potentially see similar initiatives embarked upon.

The Mountmellick Town Centre First plan launched on Tuesday, November 18, following almost a year and a half of planning and public consultation.

The plan aims to regenerate Mountmellick Town and enhance the surrounding landscape through key projects. It will serve as a basis for future developments in Mountmellick as well as aid the Town Team and Laois County Council in securing funding for the proposals included within it to revitalise the area.

The key to this initiative is making Mountmellick a desirable place to live, work and visit.

Town Regeneration Officer, Denise Rainey, provided an update on the progress of the initiative at the December meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory / Mountmellick MD. 

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Rainey said that while the projects have been identified, they must now start developing Part 8 of the planning process and look for funding to get the projects over the line. Five key projects have been identified, however there is an action plan with over 40 actions on it.

Among the plans, the enhancement of O'Connell Square has been chosen as the Town Team's priority project. Rainey explained that unfortunately the plan wasn't done in time for last year's round of Town and Village Renewal Scheme - which has yet to be announced.

However, she added: "We do have some small scale projects in that and if we get funding for those we'll be able to start with those."

Rainey said that they're hoping to start work on a sculpture for the entrance roundabout in Mountmellick.

Approval from TII is needed to complete any work and so the team are now engaging with the TII office in Kildare as a preliminary design has been done. The sculpture has been designed with the lace heritage of Mountmellick in mind and a sculpturer has been lined up to work on it.

Cllr Ollie Clooney enquired about what defines a town in terms of eligibility for the initiative, highlighting the possibility of Ballacolla being put forward. He said he would like to see work being done in Ballacolla as it is "a blackspot in terms of community development."

Rainey responded that the Town Centre First policy is quite broad and it can include villages. The policy defines a town as anywhere with a population over 500 people. She emphasised that as well as working with areas for Town Centre First plans, they also work with community groups on specific projects. 

She said the Town Regeneration team has been working with Ballylinan and that Abbeyleix is currently reviewing their Town Centre First Plan.

Rainey emphasised that if there's a community group that's willing to set themselves up as a Town Team and engage with the Town Regeneration team, then specific projects can be looked at. The most important thing is having a community group that's willing to do the work and then they can support them as best as possible.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme