Fresh appeal lodged against Midlands Hospice as saga over long-awaited facility continues

A new appeal has been lodged against the long-awaited Midlands Hospice at Arden Lane in Tullamore.

The latest objection was submitted by the owner of Condron Concrete, John Condron on the grounds of the lack of boundary separation between his business and the proposed palliative care unit.

Mr Condron believes that the HSE must engage with his company to establish a proper perimeter around the site which won't affect families with sick loved ones and add to their distress. 

It's the second appeal against the Midlands Hospice in just a number of days since a motion for a material contravention of the Offaly County Development Plan was passed by Offaly County Council during their December monthly meeting. 

All 19 councillors unanimously voted for permission to be granted therefore giving their backing to the building of the 20 bed palliative care facility on a site on Arden Lane, Tullamore.

The first appeal was issued by Tullamore Pitch and Putt Trustee Tom Martin who had reservations about the decision to proceed with the project at the proposed site of Arden Lane but subsequently withdrew his appeal. 

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Condron Concrete accepts Offaly County Council's decision to grant planning permission for the site at Arden Lane and are in full support of the Midlands Hospice which they see as an important facility.

Mr Condron insists that he is happy to withdraw his own appeal as soon as a solution is established on creating an adequate boundary between the concrete business and the site of the proposed hospice. 

Speaking on Midlands 103 on Friday morning, January 30, Mr Condron explained his reasons for submitting the appeal. He said: "We've been in operation nearly 60 years with over 170 employees and the health board didn't engage with us from the very beginning, we're a company that works 24/7.

I met with the HSE in Tullamore with my consultants recently and I explained to them if people are in the car park and somebody's not well and they're very upset, it's very sensitive and there are staff members coming in and out, they don't want to be in a situation where you might hear a forklift in the background so their perimeter is very sparse."

The Managing Director of Condron Concrete added: "They clearly didn't look at the perimeter, all we want is for them to sit down and engage with our consultant engineers. Think of 10 years' time, I have my four children coming along and I don't want them to have problems with this in the future."

It's a bit of common sense but unfortunately I had to lodge the appeal because the health board said they'd get back to me. An acoustics guy got in touch with our engineer and he didn't have a solution from the health board and it's going around in circles."

Mr Condron concluded: "All I'm just trying to tell everybody is I'm prepared to come up with a solution, I'm fully behind the hospice but people have to remember that this company which was started by my dad is in business nearly 60 years and I'm just thinking outside the box here for the future.

We need to be zoned out, there's a solution and it's just to do with the perimeter around the building that they need to look at. The bottom line is if the HSE engages with our consultant engineers then a solution can be found and I will withdraw the appeal."