THE HIGH Court has ruled that An Bord Pleanála fell into legal error in the way it decided the expansion of a Roadstone quarry at Rockbig, southeast of Arklow, amounted to a material change in use of the lands.
Roadstone Provinces Ltd claimed the quantity of rock affected by the board’s decision is about 11 million tonnes, with a value of about €11 million.
Roadstone began production at the quarry in 1960 and registered it in April 2005.
In August 2006, Wicklow County Council asked An Bord Pleanála to decide whether the development by Roadstone at the quarry at Rockbig was an exempted development.
The board ruled the further southwards expansion of quarrying into Arklow Rock was not an exempted development.
In her judgment yesterday, Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan was satisfied there was no proper determination in accordance with law that the planned southward expansion constituted a material change in the use of the lands.