N5 Westport to Turlough Road

The construction of the road required the excavation of significant quantities of unsuitable materials such as peat and rock. The client and the project designers were obliged to apply circular economy principles to the project hence it was proposed to develop External Borrow/Deposition Areas’ adjacent to the lands made available for the construction of the N5 Road Project.  

The proposal to reuse/recover this material locally was envisaged to have many environmental benefits including minimising impact to local traffic by HGV’s, reduction of dust, noise and exhaust emissions to the surrounding environment, and the conservation of natural resources by reducing extensive haulage to waste facilities.  

ORS were engaged to coordinate and deliver the planning permission and waste facility permit applications for 14 no. borrow or deposition areas throughout several townlands adjacent to the road project including Claggarnagh East, Islandeady and Liscromwell.  

Each borrow / deposition area ranged in size from 0.6 hectares to 4.95 hectares with the largest sites accepting a maximum of 200,000 tonnes of unsuitable materials arising from the adjacent road project.  

To ensure the successful grant of a waste facility permit for each site, ORS had to assure Mayo County Council that due care was taken to protect sensitive environmental and ecological receptors within the local area.