Planning sought for ‘potential of more jobs’ by South Donegal employer

A major South Donegal employer has sought planning permission from Donegal County Council for the extension of its light engineering workshop, to provide office and ancillary accommodation.

The listed applicant, Dynamic Screening Systems Ltd, linked with EnviroGrind Ltd and based near Pettigo, submitted the application to Donegal County Council which could ‘create new jobs and opportunities in engineering and advanced technologies, helping to sustain the rural economy in the region.”

Dynamic Screening Systems Ltd was established in 2015, designing and fabricating machinery for screening materials for the waste management industry, as well as the recycling, quarrying and mining industries, and “arose from its directors’ experience in waste recycling at Enviro Grind, operating from its Pettigo base since 1997.”

EnviroGrind Ltd also has a pending application for a new industrial building, submitted in June, to be used for material processing, screening, storage, handling, and transfer, along with the demolition of an existing workshop building and bagging line building to facilitate the development.

Regarding the newly proposed plans, supporting documents stated: “The alterations and extension are proposed to provide ancillary accommodation & office space to cater for Dynamic Screen and Enviro Grind business while providing a yard for parking, deliveries and distribution.”

Explaining the business need for the planning permission, it was stated: “At present, fabrication of the machines is outsourced to a number of light engineering sub-contractors on both sides of the Irish border.

“They are sold to both the UK and EU markets, with the aim of entering their products in the USA and Australian markets.

“Now the company has established itself and the business model has proven successful, it proposes to alter and extend the approved building to a facility with the assembly of their machines and do some of the fabrication, in particular those elements with unique Intellectual Property rights, at the company’s base just outside Pettigo.”

It was continued: “The proposed extension will also cater for future expansion on the site with the potential for more jobs in the future, including design engineers, administration staff and mechanics to put the machines together and service them, etc.”

The supporting documents concluded: “The evolution of Dynamic Screening Systems Ltd, designing, building and servicing specialist of highly engineered equipment for the recycling, quarrying and mining industries, is a diversification from the Enviro Grind operations.

“The current proposals will allow its expansion, adjacent to Enviro Grind, consolidating the complementary businesses in one location. The company currently designs and manufactures advanced, innovative, high-value engineered machinery for sale in Ireland, the rest of the EU and the UK.

“There are also big opportunities for this type of plant in the USA and Australia too, which the company intends to target in due course. Rather than continue to outsource the work, the company now wants to build its own facilities and do as much as possible of that ‘in-house’, at the base near Pettigo.

“The site is ideal, as it can be developed using an existing, unaltered access, and the building and yard will be visually integrated with the landscape by the topography, existing buildings and the existing and proposed vegetation. The building will not look out of character in the context of the larger Enviro Grind buildings to the west and the agricultural sheds to the east.

“Development is innovative and will expand and diversify from Enviro Grind, creating new jobs and opportunities in engineering and advanced technologies, helping to sustain the rural economy in the region.

“The County Development Plan supports innovation, local investment and enterprise such as this.”

Donegal County Council has set a decision due date for the submitted planning application for November 2.