Planning decision deferred on midlands hospice plan
Offaly County Council has deferred a decision on a planning application by the HSE for a Midlands Hospice on a greenfield site on Arden Lane in Tullamore.
The HSE lodged a planning application for the facility – which will serve the four Midland counties of Offaly, Westmeath, Laois and Longford – on April 4 last, and a decision was due today, Thursday.
However, the council has issued a further information request to the HSE. Details of the further information sought are not yet available.
The proposed development consists of a new hospice catering for 20 inpatient beds on a site at Arden Lane, Tullamore, complete with ancillary services, including a Day Therapy Unit and an education centre. 80 car parking spaces including seven accessibility bays, and 15 bicycle stands also form part of the plans, as does a set down area and one mini-bus parking bay.
The planning documents state that road improvement works are to be carried out on Arden Lane, to include footpath and pedestrian crossings, and redirected access onto R421 Arden Road roundabout via a new connection to the access road.
Planning documents indicate that the development would be assessed via a new priority-controlled T-junction on Arden Lane.
While 20 beds are to be provided as part of the initial phase of development, the planning documents state there is “capacity for future expansion”. The site is bordered to the east by the Tullamore Pitch and Putt Club.
A number of submissions have been lodged seeking the council to turn down planning permission for the project, due to its location at Arden Lane.
A submission from Offaly Hospice Foundation said it “cannot support” the building of a Specialist Palliative Care Unit for the midlands region on “unzoned and remote lands, distant from medical and community facilities” on a proposed site at Arden Lane in Tullamore.
While welcoming the commitment by the HSE to commission a hospice for the region, Offaly Hospice argued in the submission that another site “within the curtilage of the Regional Hospital” has been identified for the hospice and adds that it is “one which has been thoroughly tested against all the parameters for same.”