The proposed development of a municipal waste incinerator at Poolbeg, Dublin, has received a setback following an order from Bord Pleanála to Dublin City Council to reopen public consultation on aspects of the plan.
It a letter to the council dated February 15th, the planning board has directed that the council must make available to the public new information on the likely impact on the environment of the development and its consequences for "proper planning and sustainable development" in the area.
The board makes particular reference to a document entitled Dublin Waste to Energy Project Major Accident Hazard Assessment which was not submitted with the council's original planning application.
This document was received by Bord Pleanála last September and then revised by the council and resubmitted to the board less than two weeks ago.
The council must also publish queries it received from the Health and Safety Authority and the responses it made to those queries.
The council originally applied for planning permission for the incinerator, which will burn 600,000 tonnes of waste annually, last July. More than 2,000 objections to the council's application were received by Bord Pleanála last October.
Objections to the facility were made by several environmental groups and local residents, including the Tánaiste Michael McDowell.
The council has been ordered to publish notices in at least one national newspaper stating the new information is now available for public consultation.
The new public consultation period must be a minimum of three weeks, the board says, during which time the public will have an opportunity to make further observations or submissions to the board.
The council said yesterday that it intended to make the information available to the public from next week, and would make no comment on the material until that time. The new requirements of the board would not affect its plans for the incinerator or its relationships with the chosen developer of the plant, Danish company Elsam.
An Bord Pleanála had intended to make an announcement in relation to the application, most likely the date for an oral hearing, this month. However, this has been delayed until April at the earliest.
