Coalisland: recycling equipment manufacturing building approved with potential for 10 new jobs

The matter was mentioned at last Tuesday’s (March 4) Planning committee meeting of Mid Ulster District Council, and committee members took on board that the shed will be well away from any dwellings and they saw in the applicant’s plans a valuable example of farm diversification that will create jobs.

The planning application was lodged by MBA Planning, Citylink Business Park, Belfast, on behalf of Aidan McKiver, Mountjoy Road, Dungannon.

The planning officer’s report explains the planning application had initially been turned down: “The proposal is a large-scale industrial development proposal more suited to the urban area. This application was before the Planning Committee in October 2024 with a recommendation to refuse.

“The application was deferred for a meeting with the Planning Service Lead for Development Management. At the meeting, the planning consultant drew comparisons to other similar schemes that have been approved in the rural area.

“The proposal is located well away from other third-party properties, and so is unlikely to create amenity issues for nearby residential dwellings.

“This application is for an industrial building for manufacturing recycling equipment. It is 27.3m wide, 36m long, with an overall floorspace of 982m2. The building has a ridge height of 11.5m.

“The consultant has provided information to advise there are no buildings or lands to accommodate this proposal within Coalisland.”

Recommended Refusal

However, the planning officer’s report recommended refusal, stating: “It has not been demonstrated this development meets with any of the accepted types of development in the countryside.

“As this proposal is for a large-scale industrial building, it is not in scale and character with the area and is not sited with a group of existing buildings. It is my recommendation that planning permission is refused.”

The planning application was revisited at last week’s Planning committee meeting for final decision.

Addressing committee members, the applicant’s agent, Dermot Monaghan, stated: “The applicant, Aidan McKiver, has a farm business and an engineering business called Kiverco, based outside Stewartstown, which makes high-end recycling plant, employs 84 people.

“Kiverco urgently requires additional space in order to fulfil contracts, so the applicant proposes a new shed for the assembly and storage of recycling plant on his farm holding.

“The proposal will create at least 10 new jobs, and the Planning department has confirmed that it will not have a harmful visual or environmental impact.

“There are no dwellings in close proximity, so noise will not be an issue, and no local residents have objected to the application.

“The site was specifically chosen in order to minimise its impact on the visual amenity of the countryside. It will be located further back from the public road, beyond the crest of a hill, it will be barely visible from the public road.

“It will create new jobs without causing any environmental harm and it is a sustainable development.”

In Support

Cllr Seán McPeake (Sinn Féin, Carntogher DEA) was very much in support of the application: “There’s no lack of amenity to neighbours, it’s well back off the road.

“Bringing 11 jobs to the area is a positive, and throughout Mid Ulster generally we have nothing available for industrial units of that size, so to me I think I would be looking favourably on this.

“It’s not out of character up around that whole Coalisland area, it’s just one industrial unit after another, and where that’s situated it will do no demonstrable harm, so I don’t see any issue with it.”

Cllr Gavin Bell (Sinn Féin, Cookstown DEA) echoed his party colleague’s views: “There’s no visual impact on the local landscape. If we look at Mid Ulster, it’s actually a leading hub in the world for engineering businesses and manufacturing.

“Those businesses would never have got off the ground if they hadn’t been enabled. We want to be outward-looking and enable people to progress.”

Cllr Dan Kerr (Independent, Torrent DEA) recommended planning approval: “I’m very familiar with the area, I’m originally from Annagher, not too far from Cloghog Road.

“I think the applicant has made a a good effort to try and maybe put this in a more rural area, [away] from built-up urban housing developments, and job creation is also very positive.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any major effect on the environmental footprint that already exists there, because there are other local engineering companies and business units in the area. So I propose that we overturn the officer’s decision and let this application go ahead.”

Cllr Kyle Black (DUP, Carntogher DEA) felt that committee members had an obligation to support a growing business: “To have a business in Mid Ulster which has reached capacity where they’re at and needs to expand, I think that’s a good-news story.

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Cllr Deirdre Varsani (Sinn Féin, Dungannon DEA) said: “I would echo the comments about the character and the area, and necessity and economic vibrancy and all of that.

“I think that is important in itself that we can articulate the arguments that have been put forward tonight, that we’re not just stuck to words on a page.”

Cllr Sean Clarke (Sinn Féin, Magherafelt DEA) remarked that no existing farm buildings on that site could have accommodated the applicant’s business operation: “There are quite a substantial number of farm buildings there, and there’s no way that they could be repurposed for that proposal.”

Seconding the proposal to approve the planning application, committee chair, Cllr Mark Robinson (DUP, Clogher Valley DEA) remarked: “I think it’s good to see it coming to the area, and it’s good to see it’s bringing jobs as well.”.

François Vincent, Local Democracy Reporter