Decision due today on Tullamore site for Midland's Hospice
A spokesperson at the council said there is no decision available yet
Offaly County Council say there is no decision yet on an application by the HSE to locate a Midland's Hospice at Arden Lane in Tullamore.
The proposed development currently being considered by the local planning authority consists of the construction of a new hospice (3,805m2), with 20 in-patient bedrooms, daycare facilities, administrative areas, 80 car parking spaces, 7, accessible parking bays and 30 covered bicycle spaces. Road upgrades to a portion of Arden Lane to provide for a two-way carriageway and footpath, street lighting, and new utilities to extend to the site from a new junction with a distributor road, will also be developed.
The choice of Arden Lane has become controversial. In a submission, O'Neill Town Planning, on behalf of Offaly Hospice Foundation said the site is on inappropriately zoned lands with totally inadequate services and infrastructure, along with inadequate community connections or ancillary medical services, public transport and town centre facilities.They have indicated the Wellwood site on the Tullamore bypass as their preferred location.
Meanwhile in a letter to the Tullamore Tribune, retired Palliative Medicine consultant Dr Michael Cushen expressed his dismay at the submission in what he described as a ''vexatious'' attempt to block planning permission for a vital healthcare facility.
Dr Cushen said that he and his colleagues in the HSE, as well as other hospice groups in the Midlands were ''only interested in which would be the best site, which we agreed was Arden Lane.''
A decision by Offaly County Council is due today.