Challenge to planning permission for Ringaskiddy incinerator opens at High Court

A legal challenge against the granting of planning permission to a proposed controversial €160m incinerator at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour opened in the High Court today.

Challenge to planning permission for Ringaskiddy incinerator opens at High Court

A legal challenge against the granting of planning permission to a proposed controversial €160m incinerator at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour opened in the High Court today.

Mr Justice David Barniville was told planning permission was granted in May last year, but the Board planning inspector had recommended refusal.

Opening the case`, Maurice Collins SC said there has been “a continuum of planning activity and controversy" connected to the site at Cork Harbour.

Counsel said that the inspector had recommended refusal of planning permission but An Bord Pleanala had granted the permission by a five-to-two majority.

“We know very little of how it reached a decision in this case," he told the court.

Counsel said a large proportion of the local population is opposed to the incinerator and believe it would pose a significant health threat to the community.

Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) has brought the legal challenge to the granting of planning permission in May last year by An Bord Pleanala for the incinerator.

CHASE, in the proceedings, are seeking an order quashing the decision to grant planning permission. It is also seeking an order quashing the environmental impact assessment carried out by the Board and it seeks a declaration that An Bord Pleanala erred in law and had no jurisdiction to grant planning permission.

It is also seeking a declaration that the Board erred in law by allegedly failing to carry out any or any legally adequate Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) or appropriate assessment prior to the decision to grant development consent and that there was an alleged failure to carry out an assessment of the impact on health and an alleged failure to carry out any adequate EIA in respect of the fundamental issue of site selection.

The Board granted planning permission under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 to Indaver Ireland for an incinerator at a 13.5-hectare site at the end of the Ringaskiddy Peninsula. The incinerator will have an operational life of 30 years.

The permission was granted with a number of conditions, including that the eight-storey facility, with a 70-metre chimney, would take no more than 240,000 tonnes of municipal waste and no more than 24,000 tonnes of hazardous waste each year.

Indaver Ireland Ltd and Indaver NV, trading as Indaver Ireland, are notice parties to the High Court proceedings.

The case before Mr Justice David Barniville continues.

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