Two waste facilities - both the subject of ongoing planning rows - found themselves in the firing line at a meeting of Offaly County Council this week.
Cllr Molly Buckley questioned what action the Council were taking over Standish Sawmills at Leap Castle and Oxigen Environment at Acantha, Durrow.
Describing the facility in Durrow as an “illegal dump”, Cllr Buckley asked what the council had done in relation to both matters.
Director of Services Sean Murray said the Durrow facility was in fact a “material recycling facility outside of planning”. Declining to comment further, he said both plants were under scrutiny by the county enforcer.
Standish Sawmills, a large employer in the area, has been the subject of ongoing controversy for years.
Last year Senator David Norris claimed, “this development was established without planning permission, farm animals have died, the water table has been affected, wells have been polluted and it is a gross visual intrusion on the outskirts of a national monument, Leap Castle”.
Oxigen Environment Ltd has been granted a waste permit from Offaly County Council to operate.
However, planning permission for the site was declined last November due to concerns over the location and access to the facility.
The company applied for permission again in January of this year. The council requested further information in March and the planning has not yet been approved.
Both applications by the company for planning approval have been contested by residents.
Eoghan MacConnell
© Offally Independent
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