Disputed landfill site to be developed in return for funding for residents

The long-running dispute between residents in Ballinasloe and local authorities in Co Galway over a local landfill dump has been resolved.

There has been an out-of-court settlement which will allow the facility to be developed in return for funds which will go to community development.

The agreement reached this month means the facility will continue to be redeveloped and receive all of Galway city and county's landfill waste up to December 2005.

Those using the facility will be charged £40 per tonne, £5 of which will go to the local community. With 80,000 tonnes a year going through the facility, this will generate £400,000 for amenity schemes and to reduce waste charges for older and disadvantaged people.

The agreement means Galway city and county local authorities, which were forced to send all their refuse to Ballinasloe, "have got the breathing space they said they needed" to enable them implement an integrated approach in responding to their considerable waste management needs, according to an engineering consultant, Mr P.J. Rudden of M.C. O'Sullivan. This includes a proposal to reduce landfill dependence from 90 to 20 per cent and for a thermal treatment plant.

A majority of the newly elected Ballinasloe Urban District Council were previously against the continued operation of the landfill but now accept the "local planning gain" the town will receive from the facility. "Money is being spent to achieve the highest environmental standards, and there is a local community payback," Mr Rudden said.

He said they deserved credit for their "savvy" and vision. "What has happened in Ballinasloe has ramifications for the rest of the country. It is a great example of a situation where it looked as if it was going nowhere. It is a defining moment for waste management in this country," he added.

Despite continuous protest outside the landfill at Poolboy earlier this year and a series of High Court actions brought by local residents, some £2 million was spent converting what was "a typical old dump" to the point where it is sufficiently well-run for it to become one of few landfills in the Republic which is licensed and complies with Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

The agreement ties the local authority into nuisance control, litter screening and covering waste promptly. There is a careful screening of waste, with hazardous waste being turned away. While current "cells" are not lined to controlled leachate, new cells to be built by the end of next year will be fully lined. A total of £4 million is to be spent on these, laboratory facilities and a recycling centre on the site.