A CHALLENGE to a 323 acre proposed waste dump in Co Wicklow, described as being on a scale never seen before in this pant of Ireland, began in the High Court yesterday.
The Wicklow Heritage Trust Ltd is taking judicial review proceedings against Wicklow County Council, seeking to challenge and quash a decision the council made in March 1996 to submit an Environmental Impact Statement to the Minister for the Environment for certification of the waste facility.
Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC for the trust, said the proposed dump was at Ballynagran Kilcandra, south of Rathnew and west of Wicklow town. The site area was 323 acres, of which 196 acres would be the landfill area with the remainder either a buffer zone or space for roads.
It was proposed that the construction would not only be a landfill site but that there would also be buildings, storage facilities, treatment plants and freshwater reservoirs of 200,000 gallons. Public roads would have to be widened and upgraded.
Mr McGuinness said it was envisaged that it would be a loose waste site and rubbish would not be baled. Everyone would be able to dispose of rubbish at the site. It would be open for six days a week and would take 60,212 tonnes of waste per year.
It was proposed that the site would be operational for 28 to 35 years. "The scale of it has never been seen before in this part of Ireland at all. There would be incredible tonnages of waste," he said.
He said his case was, firstly, that the development was a material contravention of the county's development plan and as such was prohibited by the Local Planning and Development Acts.
The Co Wicklow Development Plan zoned the areas as agricultural and also protected it as a scenic amenity. A land fill dump was not provided for at all. The site was close to tourist routes.
The second general ground was that the proposed development was outside the powers of the council in the absence of the adoption of a waste plan, under the requirements of the 1979 European Communities (Waste) Regulations. So far the council had not adopted the waste management plan.
The county council in its defence denies the claims. It states that the decision taken in March 1996 to submit the EIS for certification to the Minister was valid.
It did not constitute a material contravention. The decision to submit it for certification was an executive function and the planning Acts did not require the site to be a specific objective in the development plan.
The proposed site was not ultra vires (outside the powers) of the council. The draft waste plan had no legal effect.
Without prejudice, the council had at all times complied with the requirements of the EU regulations and it had at all times acted within its duty. The decision of March 1996 constituted a proper exercise of its statutory powers, the council contends.