North Tipperary County Council has refused planning permission for a massive landfill facility at a disused mine in Silvermines. It is a significant victory for local residents, who strongly opposed the development, though the decision is to be appealed to An Bord Pleanala.
But the outcome is a setback to the Government's hopes of "regional solutions" to a growing waste management crisis as smaller unsuitable landfills are being forced to close and EU regulations are tightened. The council, nonetheless, concluded the proposed development ran contrary to the Government's objective "to reduce national dependence on landfill".
Waste Management Ireland, which is US-owned and part of the biggest waste company in the world, planned to locate the landfill at a former open-cast mine. WMI development manager Mr Mark Gilligan said last night it "will be appealing" the decision to An Bord Pleanala.
The £16 million facility was expected to receive waste from several counties by rail, and was projected to have a 450,000 tonne a year capacity over 25 years.
There were no environmental issues arising with this planning application, Mr Gilligan insisted, though its plans had applied the highest environmental standards. They were a matter for the adjudication of the Environmental Protection Agency. In one sense the decision was not surprising, he added, because of the scale of the project, which was "a regional if not a national one", and needed to be considered at a higher level. no public representative in the area indicated support for it. Iarnrod Eireann supported the development subject to planning approval.
WMI planned to redevelop a rail spur off the Dublin-Limerick mainline route on the western side of Nenagh. It was used in the past to bring mined barytes to Foynes port in Co Limerick for export.
But the local authority ruled against the project on eight grounds. It would be "incompatible with the economy of the county"; would not be compatible with tourism objectives for the area, and materially contravened the county development plan. It represented a traffic hazard and could contaminate an aquifer of regional importance and water supplies drawn from it, the council said.
It found "the development would seriously injure the amenities and depreciate the value of property in the vicinity". The "order of magnitude of the proposed development is inappropriate", and was beyond what the county needed, while the midlands waste management strategy would cater adequately for the needs of North Tipperary. It would also have a significant negative impact on the visual amenity of Silvermines Mountains and Keeper Hill.
Local residents and the Silvermines Action Group opposed the plan and favoured the development of a mining heritage centre in their area to be located beside the former Magcobar mine. But they had a setback when the local authority in Sept ember granted WMI permission to drain the mine which is filled with 1.6 million gallons of polluted liquid, and to discharge it after treatment into a nearby stream. It flows into the Kilmastula River and in turn the Shannon.
The SAG appealed that initial decision. Meanwhile, the European Commission also expressed reservations about the proposed development.
Yesterday's decision was "the first and major victory of the campaign so far", said Senator Kathleen O'Meara (Lab), who was closely involved in the anti-landfill campaign. "But we must, and will be, vigilant to ensure the campaign to protect north Tipperary from this superdump continues."
