Four months after An Bord Pleanála refused retention permission for a controversial sawmills in Co Offaly, the county council has not served enforcement proceedings on the company. Tim O'Brien reports.
T&J Standish Sawmills in the Aghancon Valley operated for a number of years without planning permission and was successfully prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 for causing pollution in local ground and surface water.
Last July, An Bord Pleanála found "no part of the existing development on the application site is authorised by way of planning permission" and refused to uphold Offaly County Council's decision to grant retention permission for the operation.
The council said yesterday it was preparing legal proceedings which it described as complex. Its director of services, Mr Jack Keyes, said it was working as quickly as it could "given the complexities" and "we don't want to tie ourselves down" as to when enforcement proceedings might be served.
Mr Keyes acknowledged that the council had held a number of pre-planning meetings with the company in the last few months in relation to a new application for retention of the sawmills.
T&J Standish Sawmills has also taken advertisements in a local newspaper restating its intention to remain open.
The company, which employs 50 people, has expanded rapidly in recent years and has built new premises. Its owners were photographed recently on site with Minister of State and local TD, Mr Tom Parlon.
A director of the company, Mr Tom Standish, previously told The Irish Times that planning permission was akin to acquiring a driving licence and suggested its acquisition was a simple formality. Yesterday Mr Standish said he had no comment to make on the current situation.
Following an initial expression of support for the company as a rural employer, Mr Parlon expressed concern when tests carried out by consultants for the sawmills indicated chromium in wells, causing the county council to place a warning against drinking the water.
According to EPA documents seen by The Irish Times, previous breaches of the company's integrated pollution control licence include the release of a number of chemicals - including quantities of chromium VI and copper in excess of permitted limits - to surrounding surface water, the nearby Fuarawn river and the contamination of a number of local wells.
A number of public meetings were facilitated by Mr Parlon at which concern was expressed but a subsequent EPA assessment declared the water fit for drinking.
The Aghancon Concerned Residents Association has written to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, calling on him to use the Planning Act to enforce An Bord Pleanála's decision.