RESIDENTS who challenged the opening of the State's biggest municipal dump on a 150 acre site in Co Kildare, designed to take five million tonnes of Dublin baled waste over 10 years, have lost their High Court case.
Mr Justice Barr yesterday refused an application by the residents who live near the proposed site at Arthurstown, near Kill, to overturn a decision by An Bord Pleanala granting planning permission, subject to conditions.
The judge will hear submissions next Thursday on whether the residents want to bring an appeal and also deal with costs.
Mr Justice Barr rejected several grounds of appeal, some on the basis that they had not been notified to An Bord Pleanala and the other parties within the statutory two months of the board's decision.
Planning permission for the dump was sought in 1992 by Dublin County Council, now split into three local authorities.
Mr Justice Barr said some idea of the proposed project was derived from the fact that heavy vehicle movements to and from the site were likely to be one every three minutes for six days a week for not less than 10 years.
The lands comprise a former Road stone sand and gravel quarry and an adjacent quarry or dump formerly privately owned. Roadstone, which worked 52 hectares, estimates that six million to seven million tonnes of sand and gravel were extracted from 1947 to 1980. Sand and gravel in the Arthurstown area are classified as a Zone 3 aquifer and ground water is extracted for local use.
Kildare County Council refused permission for the dump in 1993. An appeal was brought to An Bord Pleanala and heard over 20 days in 1994. Some 68 witnesses gave evidence. The inspector who conducted the hearing recommended that permission be refused.
It was decided not to accept his advice, and in July 1994 An Bord Pleanala granted permission, subject to 26 conditions. The residents issued a motion for judicial review in September 1994, together with a statement grounding the application and a verifying affidavit.
Mr Justice Barr said yesterday it was not in dispute that these documents were duly served within the statutory limitation of two months from the date planning permission was granted. However, further affidavits were filed and served.
An Bord Pleanala claimed these affidavits introduced new grounds for the residents' motion which were not referred to in the documentation served within the statutory time limit.
In one of these affidavits, a hydrogeologist said one Bord Pleanala condition entailed the removal of four million tonnes of sand and gravel which would deepen the proposed dump and interfere with the aquifer which served local property.
Another supplemental affidavit by a resident introduced a new criticism that one condition did not specifically state that £800,000 to be paid by the Dublin councils to Kildare County Council should be spent improving Arthurstown/Turf Bog Lane, probably the only service route for the dump.
Mr Justice Barr said there was no doubt these points raised substantial grounds concerning the validity of planning permission. However, it was not open to the court to consider them if the board was correct in its submission that they were not notified to it and the other parties within the statutory time limit.
The judge also turned down an allegation that there was unlawful delegation of responsibility by An Bord Pleanala to the planning authority (Kildare County Council) and the developer.