Owner pleads for help with Erry Mill

The company that currently owns Erry Mill in Clara is pleading this week for co-operation from Offaly County Council to decide the former flour mill's future. Adrian Carey of AC Brosna Properties says plans to develop the site are no longer feasible, whilst he cannot demolish the building as it is a protected structure. Erry Mill closed in 1972, an event which its current owner said brought Clara town to its knees. "Something that made Clara great is now a stone around its neck," he said, adding that "the average person would prefer that it was knocked". "The closure of the mill was a catalyst in the downfall of Clara," he continued. "Our plan was to use the mill. We really wanted that to be the catalyst to bring Clara back up." In 2006 a planning application seeking permission to refurbish the mill to provide retail space, offices and apartments as well as build new apartments on the site was lodged with Offaly County Council by the company. An Bord Pleanala one year later gave permission for the refurbishment, but not the construction of new apartments on the site, which according to Adrian Carey of AC Brosna Properties made the project financially unfeasible for his company. Four years later the site lies idle and "dangerous". As a protected structure AC Brosna Properties can't demolish it, but neither have they funds to fix nor insure it and Mr Carey said he's concerned someone will be killed. "The site is incredibly dangerous," Mr Carey told the Offaly Independent. "We've put barbed wire up; we try to protect it as much as we can but it's impossible to stop people getting in there." Mr Carey said the the only quotes he could get for public liability insurance for the site were in excess of €100,000, something he couldn't afford. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place," he said this week. "It's very difficult as a property owner to know what to do." An application for grant aid made to Offaly County Council in February under a Structures at Risk Fund was refused in a letter from the council to AC Brosna Properties dated July 12, explaining that no funding was awarded within Offaly under the scheme. At the time of application Mr Carey says he wanted help to fix up the site, starting with re-slating the roof that boasted a gaping hole. A fire in March further destroyed the roof and now Mr Carey says the one-time flour mill is just a "sad rotting burnt out reminder of the past". Carey admitted he does feel "a little bitter" about the thousands of hours and euro spent on planning applications for the site, but said even if permission was given now for the original plan the current economic climate makes the development impossible. "The time has gone; the opportunity has gone," he said. With development of the site a "lost opportunity", Mr Carey is now looking for direction from Offaly County Council. "Unfortunately it's my strong view the council has taken the view 'it's just Clara'," he says about the past. "If they're not waving a flag saying we're prepared to assist you, should they not take the next logical step and allow us to progress the destruction?" he asked. "Some form of plan must be put in place. It's negligent and reprehensible just to leave something there and say what will be will be. I think that the council should provide some forward planning or guidance. I think it's incumbent on them to really be far more open-minded to look at the bigger, longer term picture. There's no guidelines to what as a responsible company we should do."