An artist impression of the hangers at Weston Airport
New search and rescue hanger will now go ahead at Weston
Plans to develop a new search and rescue hanger at Weston Airport will now go ahead after four separate appeals to An Coimisíun Pleanála were rejected.
An Coimisíun Pleanála upheld permission for the development at Weston Airport in Lucan for a two-storey SAR helicopter hangar, despite an inspection report recommending permission be refused.
The hanger will accommodate “two helicopters, maintenance store, workshop and facilities, operations rooms and offices, staff kitchen and accommodation for on-shift personnel” and will also facilitate “maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities for SAR helicopters only”.
Permission is also sought for an “airside infrastructure comprising apron area to connect with existing apron, refuelling areas, service access area and a subdivided fenced compound to accommodate airside SAR support vehicles”, which would also house a generator and water tank for firefighting purposes.
Also proposed was a “reconfiguration of existing emergency airside access from the R403 Celbridge Road to facilitate a dual emergency (airside) access route”, as well as 20 parking spaces.
South Dublin County Council granted permission for the development in August last year.
The site where the hanger is set to be located is partially brownfield, where previous Weston Airport facilities were located and partially previously undeveloped ‘greenfield’ airside lands to the south of the existing airport.
The four separate appeals, from residents in county Kildare, against SDCC’s decision to grant permission stated a wide range of reasons for opposing the development, including safety concerns regarding aircraft/helicopter accidents, night flights, noise intrusion and the distance between the proposed hanger site and the main airport.
Other reasons listed were “the impact of any collision with Irish Water’s Leixlip plant and hydroelectric dam”, public safety due to traffic management concerns, and the welfare of horses on a stud farm owned by one of the appellants, who are “particularly vulnerable to severe noise and vibration from aircraft (including helicopters) flying at low heights”.
The inspection report compiled by senior planning inspector Terence McLellan stated that given the location of the proposed development “on a site to the south of the airfield in an isolated location separated from the existing airport facilities”, it would result in the “disorderly and piecemeal development of Weston Airport” and lead to an overall intensification of the airport.
“The proposal would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area,” he concluded in his report dated April 30.
In their decision to uphold permission, published on July 17, An Coimisíun Pleanála said they “did not concur with the Inspector that the proposed development would represent disorderly or piecemeal development of Weston Airport in the context of the policies and objectives of the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028”.
“In deciding not to accept the Inspector’s recommendation to refuse permission, the Commission considered the submissions of the Applicant justifying the location of the proposed development within Weston Airport to be reasonable,” they said.
