Big plans for abattoir

Cold storage facility, automation proposal approved by council

A MASSIVE beef abattoir and processing operation in the Toowoomba region can go ahead with a planned expansion, after receiving council approval.

The Toowoomba Regional Council last week gave the green light for Oakey Beef Exports to build a cold storage facility at its site on Speed Rd just outside the town centre.

The facility currently employs more than 800 people, who process up to 1200 cattle per day.

According to the original plans by PSA Consulting, the increased chiller and frozen storage capacity would also come with automated storage retrieval, air blast freezer and robotic palletising system.

Responding to a request for further information from the council about parking and traffic prior to approval, town planner David Ireland said the expansion would have minimal impacts.

“As outlined in the development application material, the new cold storage facility will enhance existing operations at the site by co-locating and integrating several existing processes, to increase efficiency, allow the implementation of best practice equipment, and improve storage, handling and distribution practices for finished product,” he wrote in his letter.

“It is important to note that the proposed development will not result in significant changes to overall operations in terms of staffing, production volumes or processing activities and as such there would be negligible change to traffic associated with it.

“As a worst case, the additional efficiencies associated with better product handling and storage may generate an additional one or two container loads (i.e. one truck) on a high-volume production day.”

Council planning officer Peter Swan recommended for the application’s approval, arguing it met the current assessment benchmarks.

General manager Pat Gleeson was contacted for comment.