Laois County Council have approved a loan of €1.25 million to purchase land in Portlaoise and Mountmellick.
The proposal came from Senior Council Engineer, Mr Trevor Hennessy, who put the details to councillors at the October meeting of Laois County Council.
Councillors approved the €1.25 million loan, which will come from the Housing Finance Agency PLC and is for land acquisition at the following locations:
- Greenmill Lane, Portlaoise
- Lord Edward Street, Mountmellick
- Smith’s Field, Mountmellick
The land is to be purchased for housing purposes, with a potential capacity of 85 housing units across the three sites.
Greenmill Lane, Portlaoise
This site is a greenfield site is approximately 3.3 acres, and fronts onto the Green Mill Lane, Portlaoise.
The land, which is beside the Dunnes Stores shopping centre on the Mountmellick Road, is already zoned for Residential purposes.
The site currently has planning approval permission for 49 housing units, comprising of:
- 34 two-bedroom apartments
- Nine three-bedroom semi-detached house
- Five three-bedroom terrace house,
- One four-bedroom terrace house
The agreed cost of this land is €775,000.
Lord Edward Street, Mountmellick
This is a brownfield site with an unfinished residential unit to the front and approximately 0.5 acres to the rear.
The land, which fronts onto the Lord Edward Street, Mountmellick, is currently zoned partially for Residential and partially for Enterprise and Employment.
There is currently no active planning permission on this site but there is potential for up to eight to ten housing units.
The agreed cost of this land is €225,000.
Smith’s Field, Mountmellick
This is a greenfield site that extends from the east of Kirwan Park to the Owenass River in Mountmellick.
Almost 2 acres of this land is zoned for Residential purposes with close to 8 acres additionally zoned for Open Space.
There is currently no active planning permission on this site, but there is a requirement to develop and implement a masterplan with the potential for up to 26 housing units.
The proposal also includes plans to develop two MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area) pitches, car parking, a playground and a walkway.
The agreed cost of this land is €250,000.
This would be a separate project but in the same vicinity as Mountmellick United’s planned development, also along the Owenass River in Smith’s Field.
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