Go-ahead for first unit at new IDA park at Oakfield

PLANNING permission has been granted for what will be the first unit to be built on the new IDA Business & Technology Park at Oakfield in Sligo. Sligo County Council has granted approval to the IDA to construct a new advance technology unit consisting of an office and light industrial/production space. The site is just off the Oakfield Road and is part of an overall site of 31 hectares (77 acres). The new building is to be two-storey with an overall height of 10.2 metres (33 feet) and floor area of 2,930 square metres (31,538 sq feet).

The building will have an open plan office area facing the Western Distributor Road, with the main reception area facing the roundabout.

Permission was also granted for a new underground storage tank, ESB substation, switch room and access road.

The council planner Mairéad O'Hara said that the site is part of a larger area that is zoned for use for business and industrial use and she said that “development policies clearly support the use of the lands for business/industrial use and see the area as being of strategic economic importance”.

She said the proposed development was the first building proposed on these lands and therefore there would be no objection to it in principle.

The planner noted that the development was in proximity of dwellings “rural in nature” but that the character of this area “is likely to experience significant changes in future years”.

She said the Western Distributor Road was constructed to “accommodate the future expansion of this side of Sligo and this type of development”.