This article is from page 11 of the 2006-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
GAMA Construction Ltd has received a major boost in its plans to complete the Ennis bypass on time and within its budget.
Clare County Council has granted planning permission to the Turkish-owned company to develop a large-scale quarry to provide materials for the €190 million road.
The council made the decision to grant planning in spite of opposition from local residents and An Taisce.
However, as part of the 22 conditions attached, the company must pay €250,000 to the council in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting the development.
The council has imposed the condition even though the development will not be using any public roads to transfer rock materials to the bypass project.
The go-ahead for the quarry will now allow GAMA to source rock materials for the bypass from its own resources, thereby cutting its costs for the project, which is due to finish in April 2007.
The 37-acre quarry is the third of three GAMA quarries to secure planning permission from the council and by far the biggest.
In all, the council has granted planning permission to GAMA, for two years, to excavate 900,000 cubic metres of rock material, with 480,000 cubic metres of the total to be excavated from the quarry now granted planning at Killow/Kilbreckan on the outskirts of Ennis.
The council granted permission, ruling that it would not seriously injure the amenities of the area, or of property in the vicinity and would not be prejudicial to public health.
The authority ruled that granting permission will result in a vast reduction in the amount of material to be imported on the existing road network and thus represent a more sustainable approach towards the construction of the bypass.
At one juncture during the planning process, the council had “serious concern” over aspects of the proposal, but the final planner’s report stated that outstanding issues could be dealt with by condition.
In their objection to the proposal, the local residents group stated: “we now fear that the proposed major expansion of this quarrying operation and its movement much nearer to our homes, is going to result in major structural damage being suffered to our dwellings and we wish to object in the strongest possible terms to permission being granted.”