A new plan to improve the quality of life for Portlaw residents and also to explore the town's tourism and development potential was launched this week.

The Portlaw Community Plan for 2022 is the work of the Portlaw Community Enhancement Group which was formed in April 2021.

The group, chaired by former politician Paudie Coffey and made of member of local community groups and organisations, have based the plan on an extensive survey of residents which they carried out in December last.

It's all about improving the community for the people who already live there and creating structures to apply for funding at local, national and indeed EU level.

But it also identifies goals such as further developing woodland trails and walks, tidying up and re-occupying derelict and vacant buildings, building on existing assets such as Curraghmore Estate and making the town more attractive to grow business.

There are also long-term goals such as revitalising the former mill/tannery site.

Portlaw is one of very few industrial planned town and has a unique heritage for this reason.

In recent months, the town received a huge boost with the news that a leading hospitality company has bought the derelict historical Mayfield House with a view to transforming it into a 5-star luxury hotel.

The mill/tannery site, which adjoins this, has been lying idle since the Portlaw tannery closed its doors in 1985 and it's long been a disappointment to locals that it hasn't been developed.

The Community Plan launch on Tuesday night last was attended by local residents.

Also there was Waterford City and County Council's Head of Rural Affairs Richie Walsh who pointed to how Portlaw is to benefit from funding under the Town Centre First Plans Initiative (as announced in December 2021).

While this was a completely separate plan, they could work well in tandem with each other, he said.

Waterford Leader have also lent their support to the Portlaw Community Plan.

The document was formally launched on the night by Mayor of Waterford John O'Leary who paid tribute to all those involved and said he was "gobsmacked" at the level of research and hard work that had already been done.

The Portlaw Community Enhancement Group are now looking for volunteers in the community to take part sub-committees to help drive projects that have been identified in the plan, forward.

You can listen back to a report from the meeting, by WLR's Jennifer Long, by clicking on the link on the image at the top of the article.