A company planning a €40 million waste facility at Calf Field on the Meath/Kildare border was yesterday accused of trying to buy local residents' support by promising compensation.
The claim came from a consultant representing objectors to the facility on the second day of a Bord Pleanála hearing into the proposed waste facility.
The company behind the facility, Thorntons Recycling, has promised €6,500 for each household on the approach road to the site out of €5.2 million earmarked for community gain.
During the developer's presentation, the hearing heard that houses on the local road would be devalued by 15 per cent during the 13-year operation of the landfill, while houses in the nearby vicinity could drop by 10 per cent.
William Coonan, from Coonan Estate Managers, who was hired by Thorntons for the company's presentation, said values would return to normal after the landfill closed. He was basing his research on the experience of estate agents involved in the property market near the landfill at Arthurstown, Kill, Co Kildare.
Earlier, Meath County Council, which had turned down the application, said it did not think the development was of such a strategic importance to Co Kildare to justify a material contravention of the Meath County Development plan.
Kildare County Council said the capacity of existing landfills in the county was causing serious concern. There were proposals for two waste disposal facilities at Usk and Drehid which were at different stages of the planning process. It urged the board to uphold the authority's decision to grant permission subject to conditions.