Landfill site complies with planning policies

THE proposed landfill site in North Cork at Bottlehill is fully compliant with the prevailing planning and development policies for the county, a public hearing in Mallow heard yesterday.

Conor Skehan, a consultant adviser to Cork County Council, said the proposed facility was not located close to any areas designated in the County Development Plan for nature conservation.

He said the new super-dump facility would be developed over eight phases, with each phase lasting between 1.8 to 3.2 years depending on capacity and the rate of waste deposition.

Speaking on the second day of the hearing, he said the provision of a residual landfill facility was only one element of overall waste strategy for the region. Other elements of this strategy included waste minimisation, recycling, composting and recovery.

“The development of this facility on the subject site is in compliance with the stated policies of Cork County Council and is considered to meet the criteria of the County Development Plan 2003,” he told the hearing at Mallow Park Hotel.

Mr Skehan is MD of CAAS Environmental Services, a company specialising in the provision of independent environmental and planning assistance to local and national authorities.

He is one of up to 18 expert witnesses called to the hearing to support the council’s case. Yesterday morning chairman of the hearing, Inspector Padraic Thornton, said he had conducted a site investigation and had seen evidence of an imprint of a stream at the dump site.

He questioned council witnesses over their suggestion that there was no rising water at the proposed dumping ground.

“If there is a flow, which comes from within the footprint of the landfill, what would be the overall implications for the landfill?” he asked witnesses.

Senior environmental consultant Mr Hans Geusebroek, of Dutch-based Grontmiji Consulting Engineering, replied that provision would have to be made for the run-off of any surface waters at the dumping site.

Local objector Kathleen Curtin, who lives in the Glashaboy north area, close to the proposed 45-hectare dump, expressed concern about the possibility of a bad smell in her home coming from the dump.

Mr Geusebroek confirmed that there would be “a day or more” a year when Ms Curtin would be able to smell the dump. The number of days when she could smell an odour would depend on atmospheric conditions and wind direction.

The dump plan faces stiff local opposition, led by the Bottlehill Environmental Alliance, represented at the hearing by solicitor Joe Noonan.

He expects to be in a position to call his witnesses against the dump proposal in a few days.