New projects added to Mayo town's 'historic core' revitalisation plan

The proposed multi-million-euro regeneration of Castlebar's 'historic core' project, first announced in 2021, is expected to take at least a decade to fully complete, The Connaught Telegraph has learned.

A number of new projects have been added to the initial plan announced three years ago under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund.

As well as the provisional allocation of €11,027,500 for Mayo County Council's two successful proposals, namely the Castlebar Historic Core Reactivation Initiative (€8,527,500) and works to Castlebar Military Barracks (€2,500,000), other works are also in the pipeline.

They include the 'strategic acquisition' of four vacant properties at the corner of Rock Square as well as properties and backlands at Ellison Street.

The latter project involves the creation of new links and access routes with possible compulsory purchase orders being put in place.

In effect, the overall Castlebar historic core reactivation initiative is now made up of six individual projects, the conversion of the old Post Office at Ellison Street to a youth centre having already gone to tender.

Each of the other projects requiring capital works have received preliminary business case approval, which paves the way for the council to proceed to the development of a detailed project brief and procurement strategy for submission to the Department of Local Government for pre-tender rubber-stamping.

In the case of projects that do not involve capital works - acquisition of properties - the council has been given approval to advance the procurement process for them with a view to submitting a final business case to the department for approval to proceed.

Each of these phases are expected to take considerable time with costs likely to rise further over the coming years.