Decision due on new Steris facility plan

Offaly County Council is due to decide next week on plans for a proposed new sterilisation facility in Tullamore.

Synergy Health Ireland Limited, part of the Steris group, recently submitted a planning application for the sterilisation process facility with an office block attached to the front of the building, and ancillary technical external rooms, at Ballyduff, Tullamore.

The 3.21 hectare site is just north of the Applegreen on the Clara Road, Tullamore.

The total gross floor area of the proposed building is in excess of 6,700 square metres.

Documents submitted as part of the planning application indicate that the project is planned as the “headquarter facility for Steris in Ireland” and the development has the project name 'Steris Tullamore'.

The applications makes reference to the facility being operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the presence of up to 32 employees.

Documents submitted with the planning application also indicate the possibility of two other buildings being added on the overall land holding of 7.2 hectares

The planning application also seeks approval for 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 company said the process which would occur at the facility involves pallets of products delivered for sterilisation. The only process involved is energy through an Xray accelerator and there are no waste by-projects, it said.

Synergy Health Ireland Limited already has another presence in the IDA Business and Technology Park in Tullamore.

The company said the proposed sterilisation technology facility is permitted in principle in the zoning objective, Business and Technology Park, applicable to the site.

It submitted that the proposal was entirely consistent with the policies and objectives of the county development plan and that the facility would enhance employment opportunities, support the planned compact growth and sustainable development.

There have been a number of submissions on the proposal from local residents.

Ballyduff Residents Group objected to the development and raised concerns over the devaluation of residential properties, environmental impact, overbearing development and loss of sunlight, privacy and general wellbeing.

Enda Scally, Ballyduff, Tullamore, objected to the project on a number of grounds. He said the proposed industiral sterilisation facility did not meet the zoning requirements for a business/technology park and would materially contravene the zoning objectives of the Ballyduff Business/Technology Park.

He said the height of the facility would have a direct effect on the visual amenities of the dwellings to the north and adjacent properties.

He said an indicative masterplan for a strategic employment zone in the overall Ballyduff area, which would include the proposed development, would lead to unsustainable development on the land to the north of the town.

A submission by David and Siobhan McGettigan, Woodland Cottage, Ballyduff, said whilst they were not objecting to the development, the “paucity of information particularly in relation to traffic, health and safety and environmental assessments” would not allow them to support it in its current form. They urged the council to refuse the application in its current iteration.

They argued that the development proposal contravenes the zoning designations, permitted uses and a number of objectives of the county development plan.

In particular, they questioned the classing of the facility as a science and technology enterprise, arguing that the majority of the footprint of the development involves loading and unloading bays and that the sterilisation of palleted freight represented a process in the supply chain and should fall instead under industrial and warehouse zoning.

The land use zoning objective for the site in the county development plan is business/technology park, which would not permit heavy industry and warehousing use.

They also said if the project was the first phase of a larger development, then a full environmental impact assessment may be required.

Annette Molloy of Ballyduff, Clara Road, Tullamore, raised concerns over the impact on visual amenities, increase in traffic congestion, pollution, noise and environment impact.

JJ O'Brien, Clara Road, Ballyduff, said the proposed height of the building, at 19.65m, was 2.4 times higher than buildings in the Axis Business Park and said it would have a negative effet on the visual amenities of nearby residents.

He also argued that the development did not meet the zoning requirements of the area in the county development plan.

Sharon Moyles of M&A's, Unit 28J Axis Business Park, said she was in favour of new businesses but wanted a number of questions and concerns addressed over any potential health impacts on her childcare facility, privacy issues and fire safety concerns.

A decision is due from Offaly County Council on the application by May 2.