Angry locals bid to halt ‘rampant’ quarrying

RESIDENTS fighting controversial plans for another quarry in East Cork will represent themselves at an oral hearing into the project, starting tomorrow.

An inspector from An Bord Pleanála will hear arguments from both sides over the course of what is expected to be a two-day hearing at the SAS Radison hotel in Little Island, from 10am tomorrow.

The Carrigtwohill Environmental Alliance (CEA) is leading the objections to plans by Midleton-based Healy Brothers Ltd to open their second quarry in East Cork.

CEA chairman Peter Thompson said securing the oral hearing with the planning appeals board was a major breakthrough.

“There are already seven quarries operating in the area. It has gone beyond the point of being sustainable,” he said.

Readymix operates two quarries in the area, while O’Connor’s, John A Wood and Lagan Quarry operate quarries nearby. All are quarrying for limestone, sand and gravel in the Barryscourt, Rossmore, Ballintubbrid and Ballyvodock townlands.

The CEA said residents wanted to see an end to the “rampant destruction” of the area.

Cork County Council, Ireland’s largest local authority, has a register of 97 quarries of the estimated 400 quarries nationally, the CEA said. The group is expected to claim at the hearing that their region is being discriminated against in terms of quarrying.

They are also expected to raise concerns about the lack of quarry compliance with planning regulations, noise and dust pollution, the level of truck movements, and possible damage to their homes from blasting.

They will point out that the areas in which the quarries operate contain an area of conservation and a special protected area for birds.

The area also contains caves and middens — places where food deposits remain, such as shellfish and animal bones — dating back to the Neolithic age.