Kilsaran plans to back fill Kilmessan quarry with construction waste

Kilsaran International is proposing to back fill its quarry at Tullykane, between Dunsany and Kilmessan, with stone and soils removed from building site groundworks.
Plans were put on display in Kilmessan recently for the project which would see an anticipated 350,000 tonnes per year, over 12 years, used to fill the quarry. Locals are awaiting the submission of a planning application by the company, which already has permission to extend the quarry.
In 2011, Kilsaran was granted planning for a 22-year extension to the quarry at Tullykane, which includes the deepening of the quarry within the current footprint by a further two benches to produce 15 million tonnes of rock at 750,000 tonnes per year.
However, with the downturn in the economy and other factors, the extension has not taken place, and the quarry was put on a care and maintenance schedule during the recession.
In a letter circulated to some residents of the area, Kilsaran says that with the current upturn in the economy, large scale development is now again commencing and is forecast to continue over at least the next decade.
“With this recovery, there again arises a need for construction raw materials, but there is also a need to deal with clean soils and stone associated with initial groundworks,” the company says.
It says it is exploring an alternative to long-term quarrying at Tullykane, and is proposing not to commence the quarrying granted in 2011, but to look instead at backfilling the quarry with inert soils and stone. A new planning permission will be needed, and a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Final restoration of the site to agricultural use would be achieved by year 13.
As part of the proposal, Kilsaran is suggesting the handing over of a 10-acre section of its property to the community as an amenity park. The plan includes a community pitch, with dug outs and a viewing bank, car parking, a sensory area, children’s play area, walkways and grassed area.
The company hosted an ‘information evening regarding the Skane Valley Amenity Park and backfilling of Tullykane Quarry’ in the Station House in Kilmessan last month, where it outlined its proposals. A meeting took place in Dunsany GAA last week where local residents discussed the planned backfilling project and the various approaches that may be taken to the planning application when it is submitted.
At the recent Construction Industry Federation (CIF) Annual Conference, engineer PJ Rudden noted that builders’ waste material – or ‘construction and demolition waste’, as it is officially called – is growing hugely in the Dublin area over the past year or two and there will soon be no site in the region licensed to deal with it.
“Unless adequate licensed capacity is quickly available by middle of 2017 at the latest, the current situation will seriously impact on the current ramp-up of major housing and infrastructure projects, for example the ‘Rebuilding Ireland‘ housing strategy, the National Children’s Hospital, DIT Grangegorman, Dublin Airport’s second runway and many more,” he stated.
He said: “Construction and demolition (C&D) waste is almost entirely a non-hazardous industrial inert waste generated by the building industry. A large proportion (50-80 per cent) of C&D waste consists of inert soil and stones excavated out of the ground to provide deep basements, underground car-parks and general excavation on sites.
“The remainder is generally called ‘builders’ rubble’ and comes from building sites, household skips from house renovations and from DIY. This consists of blocks, bricks, concrete, tarmacadam, timber and the like. Two characteristics of C&D distinguish it from other waste streams. Firstly, its relative volumes are huge, in many millions of tonnes in comparison to household and commercial waste. Secondly, it is highly recyclable when separation and crushing facilities are available.”