Agricultural development

Project scope

Malone O’Regan Environmental (‘MOR Environmental’) has been commissioned by Rob Connor (‘the Applicant’), in partnership with an established operator, to prepare an Environmental Report (‘ER’) in support of a planning application to Offaly County Council (‘OCC’) for the removal of a discrete hill comprised of sands and gravel (‘the Proposed Development’) in the Applicant’s landholding located within the townlands of Kilcollin and Lehinch, Clara, County (‘Co.’) Offaly (ITM 628177 733692) (‘the Site’). The Proposed Development will cover an area of ca. 2.0 hectares (ha), comprising an extraction area of ca. 1.0ha and an access route. The Site will be located ca. 2.6 kilometres (km) east of Clara. The Proposed Development will serve as an extension to the permitted development (Planning Reference 22/77) and will operate within the same ten-year lifespan as granted under the existing planning permission, the life of which extends to 2033. It is estimated that ca. 79,644m³ of sand material will be extracted as part of these works, and processed using established infrastructure within the existing sandpit, or delivered directly to the market without processing. Following the extraction of sand and gravel material, the agricultural field will be reinstated to match the surrounding ground levels and gradients. The discrete hill will not be reformed, providing a more uniform and improved agricultural landform. This will require the importation of 40,011m3 (ca. 72,020 tonnes) of clean, uncontaminated soil and stone by product material.