Brewing giant Diageo's plan for a new €200m brewery in Newbridge has been stalled following an appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

Kildare County Council granted planning permission in March for the new brewery on a 21.3ha greenfield site at the IDA Business and Technology Park, Littleconnell, Newbridge.

The brewery was set to be carbon-neutral, use up to 30,000t of malting barley each year and provide up to 1,000 jobs during the 20-month construction period and a further 70 jobs when operational.

However, the Irish national planning authority, An Bord Pleanála, has received an appeal against the decision by an individual who believes that the new facility should instead be located in Athy, Co Kildare.

The malting barley capital of Ireland

One of the main objectors to the project, farmer and Kildare man John Lynch, argued that the location of the new brewery should be moved on environmental grounds to Athy, which he claimed was "the malting barley capital of Ireland".

Lynch, who lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála two weeks ago, also expressed concerns about plans to extract water from a borehole near the proposed plant and to divert a local stream to facilitate the development.

In the submission, Lynch claimed that Athy has the only malting barley plant in the country, as well as the only can factory.

He argued that no other town could reduce the distance from "field to can or keg" by a greater amount and in such an environmentally friendly manner.

Lynch maintained that such a change would eliminate the need for over 800 lorry journeys each year to transport barley from Athy to the site at Littleconnell and save Diageo over €6.6m per annum in the process.

Commenting to the Irish Farmers Journal, Lynch vowed to take the case as far as the European courts if needed. The environmental group Sustainability 2050 was also among the objectors to lodge an appeal.

Carbon neutral

The carbon-neutral brewery, when fully operational, will have a capacity of two million hectolitres, making it the second-largest brewing operation in Ireland after Diageo's operation at St James's Gate.

The facility will be powered with 100% renewable energy and will use the latest process technology to minimise overall energy and water consumption, avoiding up to 15,000 metric tonnes of carbon emissions annually, Diageo stated.

An Bord Pleanála is expected to make a ruling on the appeal in August.