AN BORD Pleanála yesterday refused planning permission to waste management company Indaver Ireland for a €160 million twin incinerator project at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour.
Indaver Ireland managing director John Ahern said the company was “disappointed but not discouraged” by the decision and he would not rule out re-applying for planning permission for an amended incinerator project for Cork.
“If we saw there was some way of going back and getting an opportunity to get a positive result next time out, then certainly we would look at re-applying – Indaver is committed to investing in Ireland and helping to solve our waste problem.”
The company had applied under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 for a 100,000-tonne hazardous industrial waste incinerator, a 140,000-tonne municipal waste incinerator and a transfer station at the 12-hectare Ringaskiddy site.
But An Bord Pleanála refused permission for the project on four specific grounds and ordered that Indaver pay costs totalling €487,955 to a number of parties including €382,000 to the board and €43,700 to Cork County Council.
The board ruled that the provision of a municipal waste incinerator was inappropriate, having regard to the layout and limited size of the Ringaskiddy site and the waste management strategies of both Cork city and county councils.
The planning board found Indaver had, by seeking to facilitate the future treatment of municipal waste on the site in a revised submission of August 2010, failed to comply with a request to reduce the scale of the development.
“Therefore the development as proposed would constitute “overdevelopment of the site, which would seriously injure the amenities of the area and of the property in the vicinity.”
The board also found that Indaver had failed to properly address concerns about the risk of flooding on the road serving the site and the coastal erosion of the site.
Mr Ahern’s comments were echoed by PharmaChemical Ireland director Matt Moran, who described the board’s decision as “disappointing”.
The decision was welcomed by Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment chairwoman Mary O’Leary, who said the group was “stunned and delighted”.
