Retention permission granted for office works at Killygordon food manufacturer

A Killygordon-based food manufacturer has been granted retention permission for a change of use to a house, which is now the site of office accommodation for the company.

Nomadic Foods Ltd, based at Crossroads, Killygordon, has been granted conditional permission for the works.

The premises in question has been acting as office accommodation since last autumn and the company sought to regularise the change of use. 

While there were a couple of objections to the works, Donegal County Council has given the green light.

Nomadic is described as the number one yogurt brand in the UK convenience channel and was founded in 1998.

The company applied for retention permission in March, seeking for the change of use of an existing dwelling house from residential to office accommodation.

Pedestrian access linkages are provided to the existing Nomadic Foods car park and to the public footpath. Permission was also given for the demolition of a detached domestic garage and for the erection of a totem sign.

The plans were the subject of two objections. One submission, signed by three local residents, said the application raised “several significant concerns”.

They cited: traffic and safety concerns; insufficient parking facilities; a site notice that they said was “incorrect and misleading”; environmental and public health concerns; unpermitted use and residential amenity; impact on property values; and what they said was a lack of a comprehensive planning assessment.

“Traffic on this road is already disastrous at the best of times,” they wrote.

“The current state of parking on public roads and footpaths is already a serious issue”

They said that the usage of the site in question as an office since August 2024 is “unacceptable”.

Another objector contested that the drawings, maps and layouts were “inaccurate, misleading , incorrect and attempting to distort and disguise the true facts of this application”,

Through a firm of architects, Nomadic Foods Ltd submitted a response to the Council.

The company said that existing management and clerical staff would be relocated or redeployed from the main production site and no additional traffic would be associated.

“The change of use does not seek to provide accommodation for any new members of staff,” they said.

Nomadic Foods outlined, in the submission from the architect, that it “intended to have planning permission in place before some of their existing clerical / administration staff started using the vacant house as an overflow last summer”.

An application was submitted but “due to an unforeseen event at their production site, located within the overall Aurivo site, Nomadic clerical and management staff wanted to be redeployed to the existing vacant house which is the subject of the current application. 

“This occupation prior to the application having been assessed resulted in the planning application being deemed 'incomplete' and resulted in the current situation of seeking a retrospective planning permission”.

Donegal County Council granted conditional planning permission. The permission is subject to 12 conditions set down by the local authority.

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The premises is restricted for office use only and its opening hours are confined to: 8.30am-8pm Monday-Friday, 8.30am-6pm on Saturdays; 2pm-6pm on Sunday;’ and will exclude bank holidays and public holidays.