The proposed RTP/Daly Products Plastic Nurdle Processing Factory at Poundlick, Baltimore Road, Skibbereen, Co. Cork will bring heavy lorries to a rural area on roads that were not built with such traffic in mind. The normal planning process would include a Traffic Impact Assessment to assess and prepare for this. So far this has not happended.
So why was there no Traffic Impact Assessment (T.I.A.) carried out or called for?
If the site goes above 5,000 square metres it is required.
This factory plan is for 4,800 so it is under the threshold, but Dept. of Transport guidelines state:
“it is necessary to decide which developments should be subject to T.I.A.. One of the simplest ways to do this is to set thresholds above which a T.I.A. is automatically required. This does not mean that the occasional sensitive site that does not meet these thresholds should not be subject to T.I.A. if considered appropriate”.
This site is only marginally short of the threshold and definitely should have had the Traffic Impact Assessment imposed on it. That should have been a minimum requirement from Cork County Council.
The daily traffic movements at the factory are stated as:
1. 80 Car movements
2. 12 HGV (6 X 2) movements
3. 92 Vehicle movements daily (just under the 100 maximum T.I.A. threshold).
Safety Hazards on the Baltimore Road:
County council require 65 metres sight lines at factory entrances in both directions.
This can’t be achieved in western direction as sight line crosses over front of gardens of adjoining properties. The major concern here is that traffic coming from Baltimore direction will not have sufficient stopping distance (as required by DMURS, which are the national standards) to react to vehicles exiting from the proposed development.
All factory traffic will have to pass through Skibbereen (up to 6 X 20 – 40 tonne trucks daily once factory is operational) carrying raw materials.
