The refusal of planning permission for expansion works at a quarry near Arigna has been overturned by higher planning body. Mannok Cement Ltd had sought a development consisting of quarrying operations at the Arigna Shale Quarry at Timpaun. Works include the extraction of shale over 3 and a half hectares that would include an extension and deepening of the existing quarry floor levels. The plans called for the loading of materials, their transportation from the quarry to the Mannok Cement Works at Ballyconnell in Cavan.
A number of public submissions were provided to Roscommon County Council in opposition to the plans, with locals raising concerns of potential impacts on local water supplies, traffic and pedestrian safety. County planners refused the application for planning permission under two conditions, one ruling that the development would give rise to the doubling of existing HGV transits. Mannok Cement appealed this refusal to An Bord Pleanála, with the body now overturning the refusal and granting the planning permission with 18 conditions attached. These include a provision that all landowners within 500 metres be provided the means to notify the company of an incident or complaint.
