Posted on May 5, 2025
An Bord Pleanála has received a planning application for sand and gravel quarry activities in Abbeyleix, Laois.
The permission sought is for over a 10 year period, including all site associated works, on 4.40 hectares of land based in Redhill, with an excavation area of around 3.1 hectares.
The planning application includes mention of on-site equipment for a dry screener, a loading shovel, a dumper, an excavator, and a concrete wheel wash at entrance.
It will also involve the installation of a new site entrance, with removal of hedgerows to the south and north onto the public road L6719 to achieve 90 metre sightlines.
There has been a series of objections to the planning proposal, with concerns around traffic flow on a narrow road, creating what some objections described as an “unsafe” environment for walkers and cyclists.
There were also concerns raised about rising dust from quarry activities, and further concerns around “undermining” land quality from soil run off.
Some lodged objections have raised potential issues about ecosystem impacts, and many state that there was “no consultation” with neigbouring property and landowners.
A fenced off buffer zone of 10 metres between existing hedgerows and the proposed excavation area has been allowed to protect the ecological value.
A restoration plan has also been included in the application, which will reinstate the site to agricultural use at the end of the project.
An Environmental and Planning Report, Ecological Impact Assessment Report, Appropriate Assessment Screening Report and detailed site drawings have been included as part of the application.
Uisce Eireann has provided the applicant with a condition to enter into a “connection agreement” with the state body to provide for a service connection(s) to the public water supply and/or wastewater collection network.
Laois County Council approved the decision early last month, and a decision is due by An Bord Pleanála by August, 25.
