Plans for a major expansion by a Garnock Valley pharmaceutical giant were approved at a meeting of North Ayrshire Council's planning committee.
DSM, formerly Roche Products, sought planning permission for the development of a production and distribution facility on vacant brownfield land within the site boundary of DSM at Drakemyre, Dalry.
The site, known as Area 18, is around 2.8 hectares in area, and is bounded by a heat and power plant to the north, production buildings to the west, the wastewater treatment plant to the south and undeveloped open ground to the east, beyond which are other areas of plant.
The level site has been used in the past for storage purposes, as a contractor's compound and for fire training purposes. It is currently disused.
A further 1.3 hectares of land would be used for ancillary development, including a temporary lagoon (to be removed upon completion of the development), landscaping and pipe racks to existing installations.
The proposed development involves the erection of an industrial facility to manufacture and distribute a product called Bovaer, which is a cattle feed additive that has been worked on by DSM over the past decade.
Bovaer reduces methane production in cattle and would be sold on the world market. The product would result in lower carbon emissions from beef and dairy farming when added to the diet of cattle and sheep. It has been developed in the Netherlands by DSM and is already manufactured in Germany.
The company has chosen its Dalry factory as a further site for the manufacture of the product. Once complete, the development would create around 30 additional jobs at the DSM site.
At its peak, the three-year construction phase would support 350 management and construction jobs.
The manufacturing process involves chemical synthesis during which an organic raw material is mixed with a solvent and converted with acids to form the intermediate product in a rapid exothermic reaction.
The tree species within the proposed woodland areas have also been chosen to create new habitats for wildlife, insects and birds.
Councillor Timothy Billings said he was concerned about the noise which would come from the new production plant.
He said this site could be considered as potential for noise and this could be looked at and if there was a constant hum that could be an issue.
Planning Officer Jim Miller said there was a condition that there should be no increase in noise over and above what you had in the main complex.
He said the councillor’s concerns on noise would be raised with environmental health.
A motion from councillor Cameron Inglis to grant the application subject to conditions was supported by the committee.
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