Laois council takes over County Hotel housing plan

A LONG-PLANNED social housing scheme at the former County Hotel in Portlaoise has been taken over by Laois Co Council, after Clúid walked away from the project.

At the latest council meeting last week, chief executive Michael Rainey said it was disappointing that Clúid walked away from the scheme after so many years, because the unit cost was too high. He confirmed that the local authority would take over the entire project and “drive it forward”.

The derelict hotel on Main Street was due to be demolished this summer, to make way for a three-storey apartment block containing 10 residential units on the two upper floors, with a commercial/enterprise space at street level.

Vacant for over 30 years, the hotel was purchased by the county council for €155,000 in January 2019 to provide accommodation for people on the housing waiting list.

Approved housing body Clúid was involved but the project was beset by repeated delays, particularly because the site would be extremely difficult to access during the construction phase, adding to soaring costs.

The building facade had protected status but, with limited rear access to the site, saving the frontage was eventually deemed impossible and permission was granted to demolish the entire building.

Mr Rainey told councillors at their monthly meeting on 28 July: “In a regeneration project, the costs are going to be higher. It is a very high profile site on Main Street and we have to do it.

“We have to accept that if we are bringing back places like old hotels, the cost will be high. We will take it on ourselves and drive it forward. We will take that detailed design and go to the department and look for funding.” 

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley said all councillors were very disappointed that Clúid pulled out of the project, as they had waited so long for the derelict County Hotel to be developed. She added that while the site was difficult to access, it was an eyesore and had to be developed.

She said: “Now we are back to the drawing board. If a gust of wind had come along and knocked it to the ground, it would have saved us a lot of problems caused by the preservation order.” 

However Mr Rainey stressed that the scheme has not reverted to ‘square one’, because the detailed design is already done.

Adding that he would be in contact with Clúid, he said: “There is no guarantee that we will get funding for it, but it has to be completed.” 

In response to questions from Cllr Dwane Stanley, Mr Rainey said that Clúid had “closed the door” but he planned to engage further with them. He confirmed that the council would take on the ground floor commercial element of the scheme.

Director of services Donal Brennan said the council will need 100% state funding to develop the units, unlike Clúid which can access funds such as CALF (Capital Assistance Leasing Funding).

He confirmed that the cost of the ground floor commercial unit must come from Laois Co Council’s own coffers, as it will not qualify for housing funding.

Cllr Dwane Stanley commented: “I was never in favour of the cost that we were hearing, which kept going up and was hard to justify, but at the same time we are in the middle of a housing crisis.” 

Back in 2022, Clúid estimated the cost of the County Hotel housing scheme at €7m, for eight one-bed and two two-bed apartments.