Clare landfill project to go ahead as locals withdraw threat of legal challenge

After a four-year delay, Clare County Council is to begin construction of the county's new landfill near the village of Inagh.

This follows a decision by Inagh Anti-Landfill Group not to pursue a legal challenge within the two months allowed.

In June, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted a waste management licence for the landfill 2 km from Inagh.

The absence of a legal challenge has come as a major relief to the council, which is currently spending £50,000 a week transferring Clare's waste to Limerick and Tipperary.

The council expects to spend £2.5 million transferring the county's waste before next June when the Inagh landfill is expected to be operational.

Local residents had said a legal challenge was imminent. However, after going through the documentation from both the EPA and the council, it is understood, no grounds could be identified to apply for a judicial review of the EPA's decision.

A local resident has started judicial review proceedings against An Bord Pleanala over documents not furnished in relation to the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) granted for the landfill site. However, a spokesman for the council said yesterday this did not affect the council's ability to begin construction in late September or early October.

The process to identify the site began four years ago. The landfill at Inagh will have the capacity to receive 62,500 tonnes of waste a year and covers an afforested area of 150 acres - 100 acres of this land is to be used as a buffer zone.

The council spokesman said the local authority was still confident of opening the landfill early next summer before the closure of the council's waste transfer station in June. The station acts as a distribution centre for the county's waste.

The local authority's director of services for the environment, Mr David Timlin, has warned that if the landfill was not in place by next June, "the implications for the refuse collection service in 2002 will be alarming".