Hazardous waste policy in disarray as Kilcock rejoices

The search for a suitable location for an incinerator to process the Republic's growing amounts of hazardous waste is likely to shift elsewhere following An Bord Pleanala's decision to reject an application for a £65 million facility outside Kilcock in Co Kildare.

Figures to be issued later this month by the Environmental Protection Agency will confirm that amounts of this most troublesome form of waste continue to rise. They will support the EPA's insistence that a thermal treatment plant will be necessary to treat much of this material, the vast majority of which is exported at present. It remains to be seen where the incinerator might be located or who will build it, while a national strategy on hazardous waste has yet to be finalised.

Thermal Waste Management Ltd, which had proposed to build a facility capable of processing 100,000 tonnes a year outside Kilcock, declined to comment on whether it will pursue an alternative site. A spokeswoman said it was seeking legal advice on its options. "We are deeply disappointed and will be studying the reasons it was rejected."

The incinerator proposal was rejected by An Bord Pleanala on grounds of scale, zoning, traffic and visual amenity. The decision has no direct bearing on plans for six municipal incinerators which form part of regional waste management plans drawn up by local authorities.

The outcome, upholding the decision of Kildare County Council, was greeted with jubilation throughout the area yesterday. The North Kildare/South Meath Alliance Against Incineration, expressed "great relief".

Local people were afraid a perception of a national need for a hazardous waste incinerator would win out, said a spokeswoman for the alliance, Ms Louise Hadden.

The finding that the site at Boycetown was not zoned for industrial purposes in the county plan suggested the application should not have been made in the first place, she claimed. "For that reason, we are taking the unusual step of asking An Bord Pleanala to award costs against TWM."

The alliance said it was also making a complaint to the European Commission about the failure of the Government to adopt into Irish legislation the EU's Seveso 2 Directive on the location of facilities such as incinerators. If it had been in place, Kilcock would not have been considered for the plant, Ms Hadden said.

The alliance's trustee, Father P.J. Byrne, parish priest of Kilcock, said he was "pleased with the decision, proud of the unity in the community that helped bring about this decision, and mightily relieved".

The owner of Owenstown Stud in Maynooth, Mr John Tuthill of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, said it had been "crazy" to even propose such a development in the area.

"We are truly delighted for the people of Kilcock but also for the bloodstock sector, the horse industry and all of those in agriculture. Common sense has won the day."

The decision, said the local TD, Mr Emmet Stagg (Labour), was a victory for local democracy. "This proposal threatened the very fabric of the community."