By Alan Healy
Deputy Editor
A Derry business which clears fallen trees from roads has warned that its response times to emergencies may be impacted by a recent planning decision.
The warning came at a recent meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Planning Committee, where a refusal was recommended to the owner of a locally based tree surgery who had hoped to build a residential property close to the business.
Thomas Dunn has sought approval to build the dwelling at Hilltop Farm, Elagh, Upper Galliagh Road, Derry, where his business, Elagh Tree Surgery is based.
It provides a range of services in the northwest including tree maintenance, tree felling service, dangerous and overhanging branch removal.
At the meeting, a planning officer said the application had been refused as the applicant had not provided farm maps and sufficient information had not been received to demonstrate that the farm business is currently active.
The officer added that the applicant had also not demonstrated that there was a need for an employee to live at the site of their work, adding that insufficient information has been received to demonstrate that safe access onto Upper Galliagh Road can be achieved.
However, Mr Dunn was then given the opportunity to address the meeting, where he said he runs a tree surgery and snow clearing business from the application site, adding that it covered the local council area and carried out work for the like of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) and Road Service.
Mr Dunn added that his business operated ’24 hours a day’, dealing with emergency call-outs, often on Friday and Saturday nights.
In response to the planners’ objections relating to farming at the site, Mr Dunn said that he had stopped claiming farming subsidies ‘out of principal’.
“I’m not farming the land, so I shouldn’t be claiming subsidies,” he added.
Mr Dunn told the meeting that the application was for a building to allow his son, who works with him, to live with his young family at the site, as they were currently living in Mr Dunn’s home.
“We need to run the business, but they need their own space,” he said.
Chainsaws
Sinn Fein’s Christopher Jackson asked what impact the refusal would have on their emergency response times.
Responding Mr Dunn said that while eight people work with him, he and his son were always at the Hilltop Farm site, which could be confirmed by Roads Service.
He continued that both he and son did not drink, and were therefore available to work at any time during unsociable hours but that meant his son being able to live at the same site where the business was located.
However, he added that if this changed, it could seriously impact on their response, given that the storage facilities at the farm were essential to sustain the service they provide.
“We’re talking about lorries full of chainsaws and telescopic cranes,” he added.
Commenting, the DUP’s Hilary McClintock said that Mr Dunn provided a ‘valuable resource’ to the ‘city and district’, while Sinn Fein’s Patricia Logue added that she believed this was an ‘exceptional case’.
It was then agreed to delay any decision in the case, with Mr Dunn now given two months to address a number of issues in the application before it came back before the council’s Planning Committee.
If you have a story or want to send a photo or video to us please contact the Derry Now editorial team on 028 7129 6600 for Derry City stories Or 028 7774 3970 for County Derry stories. Or you can email editor@derrynews.net at any time.