Planning permission has been refused once again for the expansion of extraction works from a quarry at Ardgaineen Claregalway after heavy local opposition.
Harrington Concrete & Quarries sought a five year permission to extract rock from a 4.35 hectare site down to a dept of 5m using using explosives.
Material extracted from the quarry would have been transported to an existing crushing and screening plant for processing into aggregates.
Galway County Council received 44 public submissions related to project, all of which were objections.
Locals were concerned about potential danger to road users and pedestrians from the increased HGV traffic, pollution from dust and other materials thrown up by the quarry, and damage to property from blasting vibrations.
In refusing permission for the expansion of the quarry, Galway County Council cited the local road network as being inadequate for the increased level of vehicle traffic expected, and the effect that the operation of the quarry would have on local residents.
The local road is “deficient in terms of its width, composition, alignment and overall carrying capacity to serve a development of the nature and scale proposed,” the council said.
Granting permission for the development would therefore “endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard and obstruction of road users” and would “have a detrimental impact on the capacity, safety, or operational efficiency of the local and national road network in the vicinity of the site”.
The council also said that based on the submissions it has received it wasn’t satisfied that the quarry wouldn’t “endanger the health and safety of persons occupying the site or adjoining the site and immediate surrounds and serious injure the amenities of property in the vicinity” due to the intensification of dust and noise from the site.
This is the second time Harrington has had expansion plans for the quarry at Ardgaineen rejected, after a very similar application was refused in June of 2019.
Those plans were for a 25 year permission for extraction at the same location, and received over 80 objections from the local area.
