Clay pit receives 20 year extension of operations

Ireland's last remaining operational brick manufacturing facility has been granted planning permission to continue the exaction of minerals from Cormey Clay Pit.

Breedon Brick Ltd sought permission to continue the use of the Cormey Clay Pit at Cormey Kingscourt. The plans were previously approved by the local authority in 2020 subject to 14 conditions, but R. Lee appealed the council's decision to An Bord Pleanála.

The Breedon Brick proposal was to continue the use of clay pit, and works permitted under previously granted planning permission. The application also sought a lateral extension to the clay pit over a period of up to 20 years.

It was accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment Report. The site forms part of EPA Integrated Pollution Control Licence. The overall application area is around 14.99 hectares.

The national planning oversight body granted permission subject to six additional conditions.

Breedon is a leading construction materials group in the UK and Ireland. They produce cement, aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, Welsh slate and specialist concrete and clay products, and offer a range of contracting services. Breedon's Kingscourt Brick business have experience of more than 100 years of brickmaking.

Extraction of mudstones, from the Permo-Triassic age mudstone sequence at Cormey Clay Pit, has been carried on at this location for some time, and was granted permission in 1986, 2001 and 2017. It's estimated the proposed development will facilitate the release of 1.06m tonnes of mineral from within the extension area. The inspector's report recommended the approval of the application.

The conditions attached include that the development is carried out in accordance with the submitted plans, that quarrying only last 20 years, that mitigation measures are adhered to, a limit of 50,000 tonnes of minerals from the clay pit per year, a limit on the opening hours and that the developer facilitate the preservation of archaeological material or features that may exist on the site.