Planning has been granted for a massive new An Post unit at the former BorgWarner facility in Tralee.
The BorgWarner manufacturing plant in Monavalley closed in 2021 and is currently occupied by several different operators in sub-divisions of the facility.
A separate part of the former factory was also used by the HSE as a COVID-19 vaccination centre during the pandemic.
Kerry County Council has now granted permission for part of that facility to be converted into a major delivery services unit for An Post.
Davan Borg Ltd, which is the owner of the unit in question, applied for permission to change the use of this part of the facility from manufacturing to a delivery service unit for An Post.
The permission also allows for an extension for two dock levellers to level the height between the warehouse floor and its vehicles.
The planning application notes An Post currently experiences daily inefficiencies unloading the HGVs using tail lifts, and the Edward Street site cannot facilitate the installation of dock levellers.
An Post is also to benefit from 133 parking spaces, including 82 electric vehicle delivery van spaces.
This new unit will process local area postal collections and deliveries, a function currently carried out at Edward Street in the town, catering for the current and planned future needs of the postal district.
The planning application says the move to Monavalley will remove many vehicle movements from the town centre, including HGVs for deliveries, and its distribution fleet.
It also says it provides the required parking area for the increased number of electrical vehicles being used by An Post, in its commitment to sustainability.
It’s planned there’ll be 105 postal staff based at the new unit, most of whom will be postal delivery operatives working early weekday hours to prepare and collect daily deliveries.
The facility will not act as a retail post office, but it will have a public counter and six designated visitor car parking spaces for people to collect un-delivered mail items.
The applicant was requested to provide further information during the planning process, and a lette
r from the applicant to Kerry County Council noted they are currently under time restraint for the relocation of An Post to this facility.
