Fivealley quarry development refused planning permission

An Bord Pleanala has refused planning permission for development at a sand and gravel quarry pit at Fivealley near Birr. Smyth's Sand and Gravel Ltd had been granted planning permission for the project, which would involve the extraction of up to 35,000 tonnes of sand and gravel per year for a seven-year period, by Offaly County Council. However, an appeal was lodged with An Bord Pleanala against the council's grant of planning by Sean Cashin, c/o James O'Donnell of 27 Drisin, Ballymoneen Road, Galway. The development was for the retention/continuance of use of an existing pit area (2.2 hectares) and retention/extension of the pit (1.4 hectares; of which 0.5 hectares is retention and 0.9 hectares is extension), to give an overall extraction area of 3.6 hecates. Extracted material was to be transported via a new internal road to the existing screeing/washing plant and concrete plant facilities. Ruling recently, An Bord Pleanala refused planning for a number of reasons. It said having regard to a number of factors, the development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment and should be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment. However, as the application in part includes an application for retention, the board considered that it is, by European Court judgement, precluded from considering a grant of permission. The board said the European Court judgement held that the retention permission system as it applies to projects that are required to be subject to Environmental Impact Assessment does not comply with European directives. The board also said that the applicant had failed to provide sufficient details of what would be entailed in the provision of the new internal road and had also failed to demonstrate that the construction and operation of this road would be compatible with the protection of the ecology, landscape, visual amenity and residential amenity of the area.