Refusal for Offaly quarry proposing to extract 200,000 tons of sand and gravel

OFFALY County Council has refused planning approval for a quarry which proposed to extract 200,000 tons of sand and gravel on 3.2 hectares of lands at Esker More, Mount Lucas, Tullamore.

The application is in the name of Figile Ltd.

Environmental Action Alliance-Ireland (EAA -I) made a submission on the application in which it claimed ''the planning application is legally flawed as it failed to comply with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice in the judgements against Ireland'' and it goes on to list a number of these cases.

The EAA-I which is based in Offaly contended that: ''In accepting and validating this legally flawed planning application the Council has seriously violated their duties of administrative transparency under National and European laws. As a result, any development consent on this invalid application could not be considered proper planning or sustainable development as it would not satisfy the need for legal certainty and would create an absurdity between the Irish Constitutional Court, the Treaty European Union and the jurisprudence of the above mentioned ECJ judgements.''

In outlining its reasons for refusal Offaly Local Authority said the proposed development would result in extensive extraction of material, from an area of high amenity and an esker as defined by the Offaly County Development Plan 2021-2021, and would be contrary to Development Plan Policy.

It also said it would result in a reduction of visual access in areas of high amenity, eskers, esker landscapes, protected views or cause damage to designated sites, habitat types or species

It also noted the applicant was seeking access onto a restricted regional road the R402.

''It is council policy to strictly control development, outside of identified settlements which could generate significant additional traffic, thereby potentially compromising the capacity and efficiency of the national roads/restricted regional roads and associated interchange and possibly lead to a premature and unacceptable reduction in the level of service available to road users,'' the council stated.