Laois County Council, in partnership with and with the approval of the OPW, have announced that the preliminary design of the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme is complete.
Accordingly, details of the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme will be lodged to An Coimisiun Pleanala today, Tuesday 28th October 2025.
A public consultation process will follow, commencing on the 3rd November 2025 and extending to 15th December 2025. Public Notice of the proposed development will be published today.
Laois County Council is seeking two approvals from An Coimisiun Pleanala, one for the Flood Relief Scheme itself and a separate approval for the compulsory acquisition of lands required to deliver the Scheme. Notifications to landowners have been issued.
The Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme has been designed to provide a standard of protection that will prevent flooding of properties and assets, within the Scheme Area, for 1 in 100-year flood events.
This is a very high standard of protection and in keeping with National Standards for the design of flood relief schemes.
The proposed Scheme, to be lodged to An Coimisiun Pleanala, protects 165 premises from flooding, including approximately 90 premises impacted by the flood event of November 2017.
Some specific details of the scheme include replacement of the Owenass Bridge new Pumping Station at Davitt Road, 3.7km of Embankments and 3.2km of Flood Walls.
Approximately 18 acres of lands are required to deliver the proposed Flood Relief Scheme.
The Scheme being submitted to An Coimisiun Pleanala is adaptable and will accommodate modifications, to provide for future flood risk scenarios, advised by climate change etc. Further design work in this respect will follow.
