Decision due on €25m Banagher meat plant project

Backers of a €25m meat processing plant near Banagher should find out by Monday if the project will get the green light.

Offaly County Council is due to make a final decision by July 27 on the factory proposals which the applicants say will create 110 jobs once up and running, and another 250 posts during construction.

Banagher Chilling Limited is proposing the construction of a food processing factory of 4,925 metres and a single-storey extension to an abattoir, to include processing rooms, along with a new site entrance spanning 50 acres on a site located 3.5km to the southeast of the town, at Boheradurrow and Meenwaun.

A decision had been due back in March after the applicants supplied 25 points of further information requested by the local authority back in August.

However, a final verdict was stalled again on March 6 when the county council sought further “clarification of further information” from the developers.

The local authority expressed concerns about the layout and the operation of the new entrance, and the future “safe operation of the junction” asking for further designs to show how it will work, and a Road Safety Audit.

In addition, Offaly County Council asked for clarification on the water source for the development, along with alterations to the parking spaces to bring them up to 165, taking account of the need for disability spaces and spaces for charging electric vehicles and bikes.

It also asked whether the company would be applying to the Environmental Protection Agency for an IPC/IED licence governing waste and emissions arising from the project.

The development would comprise the refurbishment and extension of the abattoir on the site to allow a maximum slaughter rate of 140 cattle per day.

In addition, the development, if approved, would see the construction of a meat cutting, packing, blast freezing and cold storage facility with an output of approximately 40 tons per day. On June 30, Banagher Chilling Limited supplied extra information and clarification. Offaly County Council has to make a decision by July 27.

In the documents supplied, the applicant noted that following talks with council road engineers that “it was agreed that the proposed factory entrance is a safe entrance” and the proposed junction designs for the R483 and L3010 is “acceptable” to the local authority following discussions in recent months.

The source of the water for the plant will be from private wells, locations of which were supplied by the applicant, while they also confirmed they would be applying to the EPA for the licences required. A new parking layout and other documentation was also supplied.

In February of this year, Gwen Wordingham and Desmond Kampff of Ballyeighter, Coolfin, Banagher, along with ten signatories, sent in a submission to the further information received by the local authority.

The summary listed in a detailed 36-page document stated that they “remain convinced that it is an unsustainable and unsuitable development for the area” and that the proposed abattoir and meat processing plant poses “grave risk to the local environment and offers little benefit to the local economy.”

“We are also of the opinion that due to national and global economic pressures on beef production, the facility is not a viable business proposition,” the submission in February said, noting the “absence of any involvement and communication with the local community” on the plans.

Banagher Chilling Limited, whose directors are listed as Jian Wei Wang and Li Wang with an address in Ranelagh, Dublin in the planning documents, previously estimated that the Offaly plant would cost €25.59 million and would create employment for 110 people once complete, as well as 250 jobs during construction.