Manna ceases operations after aerial delivery hub is refused

LOCAL entrepreneur Bobby Healy’s Manna has ceased delivery operations in Ireland after plans for a new aerial delivery hub near Dundrum Town Centre were refused.

Founded in 2018, Manna has developed aviation-grade drones that deliver everything from takeaways, groceries, coffees and ice creams using a speed of 80kph, delivering within a 2km radius in three minutes and carrying up to 4kg worth of items, but will now only do so abroad – the company employs nearly 200 people in Ireland.

This comes after planning permission was refused for a new aerial delivery hub for the drone delivery company at a site by Main Street, Dundrum, due to an ‘insufficient’ Noise Impact Assessment.

In a statement released the company said: “The lack of a clear national framework has left the sector reliant on local planning processes and created uncertainty around the infrastructure required to support drone delivery at scale”.

Manna noted that it will focus on other markets, such as the UK, US and China, and said that their decision signalled a “strategic pause” in Ireland and that plans to expand through local operational delivery hubs in Ireland will not move forward “at this time.”

The company had hoped to get permission for the hub on a temporary five-year basis for the construction of one single storey storage and ancillary office cabin container, boundary treatments in the form of perimeter fencing, and all associated site works necessary.

However, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council did not give the green light to the planned development and has directed Manna to provide a more robust NIA.

The decision letter states: “The noise impact of the proposed aerial delivery hub and associated drone operations on residential amenity and other sensitive receptors, through the submitted Noise Impact Assessment, has not been sufficiently evidenced or modelled.

“The submitted Noise Impact Assessment raises significant concerns regarding its approach and methodology, presenting an over-reliance on ‘LAeq, 12hr’, and ‘Lden’.

“The Noise Impact Assessment also fails to adequately consider the different acoustic character of the proposed drone noise, both spectrally and temporally, to road traffic noise, relying on on averaged noise metrics, including LAeq, 12hr and Lden, which are not considered appropriate for assessing the intermittent, short-duration and repetitive nature of drone operations, and does not adequately address the tonal and temporal characteristics of drone noise…

“…The submitted Ecological Impact Assessment does not provide a sufficient evaluation of impacts on biodiversity nor reconcile findings in the scientific literature with the conclusion of ‘no significant effect’.”