No decision yet on Tullamore sterilisation facility plan
Offaly County Council has granted a three-month extension to a Tullamore company to submit further information on a planning application for a new sterilisation technology facility on the outskirts of the town.
The company, which is part of the Steris group, and already has another presence in the IDA Business and Technology Park in Tullamore, is seeking planning approval for a proposed development on a 3.21 hectare site at Ballyduff, fronting onto the R420 Clara road just north of the existing Applegreen Service Station.
The planning authority sought further information on the project in April, which was responded to in August.
However, in a further letter to the applicants, dated September 28, the council noted that the applicant's response to the further information request raised “new issues which require addressing.”
Among the issues they were asked to address was road safety in the vicinity of the proposed development.
They requested the applicants to submit a new Road Safety Audit on the upgraded entrance to the development “as it differs from the entrance audited” and they also sought details of the pedestrian and cycling priority crossings at the proposed entrance to the development.
The applicants were also invited to review the third-party submissions which were received on the submitted further information and to indicate if the proposals and services it intends to provide can be considered to be “of strategic or national importance.”
The applicants were given until October 26 to respond to the original request for further information which issued in April and, in response to the council's request for clarification, they sought a three month extension up to February 5, 2024.
The planning authority granted an extension until January 25 and stated that unless a “full and complete response” is received by the local authority on or before that date, the application will be deemed withdrawn.
The proposed development has the project name Steris Tullamore, and will comprise the provision of a sterilisation processing facility with a gross floor area in excess of 6,700 metres and a maximum roof height of 19.65 metres.
The plans also make provision for an office block attached to the front of the building; ancillary technical external rooms and the repositioning and upgrade of two existing entrances to the site from the Clara Road (R420) to provide a staff entrance and a dedicated truck entrance.
Internal roads, footpaths and a bicycle path are also proposed as are 42 parking spaces, eight truck parking spaces and 34 bicycle parking spaces and a segregated cycleway along the boundary of the site on the Clara Road.
The planning application has attracted a large number of submissions from homeowners living in the vicinity of the proposed development.