Project outline submitted for Laois Greenway

Laois County Council has submitted a project outline document to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the next step in the process of securing a Greenway for Laois.

The Portlaoise to Attanagh Greenway is a proposed walking and cycling route, which will start in Portlaoise, run through Abbeyleix, and continue towards the Kilkenny border.

Greenways have proliferated across the country in the past decade, becoming popular amenities with locals and tourists and boosting rural economies. With no Greenway in Laois at present, the Portlaoise-Attanagh project has been long-awaited.

The council has now submitted “Phase 0” of the project to TII for comment and approval. TII is the body responsible for funding and approving Greenways in Ireland.

According to TII, the purpose of Phase 0, the first of eight phases in the development of a Greenway, is to “ensure that the Project is aligned with current National Policy and Approving Authority strategic policies, programmes and plans.”

This update follows the council’s appointment of a design team last April to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed Greenway.

At its October meeting, Laois County Council commented on this next stage in the process: “We have to comply with project appraisal guidelines as published by the state. We are required to submit a project outline document to TII espousing the virtues, as it were, of the development of that Greenway.

“So that document is gone to them, and it’s a matter for TII now to approve it or to revert to us with queries regarding it, and that hopefully will lead to a funding allocation enabling us to move on to the next phase of the project.”

The proposed Greenway would be constructed on the old Laois-Kilkenny railway, emulating other counties’ success in repurposing their disused rail lines in this fashion.

The council stated, however, that the precise route for the Greenway has not yet been identified.

While the Laois Greenway is still in early stages of planning, Laois saw a major investment in its walking and cycling amenities this year with the completion of the Durrow Community Cycle Trails. The trails were financed by a €492,750 grant from the government’s Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme.