Elliot's Mill

Planning refused for major nursing home development

Plans for a 186-bedroom nursing home development  and 40 apartments at the former Elliotts Mills site in Navan have been refused by Meath County Council planners.

Elliot’s Mill Care Centre Limited had sought permission for the demolition of the derelict mill building, which is now in ruins, and the construction of a 186-bedroom care centre in a part six, part eight and part nine-storey building and 40  on the two hectares site.

The proposed care centre building was to be laid out in three-wings around a central full height atrium with access to a hard landscaped river front plaza which formed the original footprint of Elliot’s Mill.
The plans also included 40 apartments in a part four/part five-storey block with basement parking  and a landscaped riverside park connecting both buildings. 

The plans were lodged last August and Meath County Council sought further information in October, which was submitted in February and earlier this week, the council made the decision to refuse planning permission for the development.

Elliott’s Sawmills on the Blackwater closed in 1999 bringing to an end centuries of milling on the site.  According to Navan Historical Society, the buildings, now in ruins, date back to 1851, when William Morgan established a mill to provide flour for his bakery in Watergate Street. It was later run as a saw mills and then taken over by Joshua Elliot.

The application site is part of the Blackwater riverbank area in Navan known as 'The Mollies' and it was the first application in many years for a major development in that area.

Last year the Meath Chronicle revealed plans for a major financial services centre - the biggest outside Dublin - on the opposite riverbank. Navan native, Noel Moran is the man behind that project which could eventually employ up to 800 highly-qualified employees in the financial services industry.