The High Court has dismissed two judicial review proceedings brought by Donal McMonagail agus a Mhic Teoranta, trading as McMonagle Stone, over the planning status of its quarry at Largybrack, Glencolmcille, County Donegal.
In a judgment delivered on 28 April 2023, Mr Justice Cian Ferriter rejected challenges to a 2013 An Bord Pleanála decision and a 2020 decision refusing the company leave to apply for substitute consent. He also dismissed the company’s constitutional challenge to provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
The 2013 proceedings concerned a review decision confirming Donegal County Council’s determination that the quarry had begun operating on or after 1 October 1964, had no relevant planning permission, and required environmental impact and appropriate assessments. The Council had notified the company that it intended to issue an enforcement notice requiring quarry operations to cease. Notices were later issued and withdrawn; the judgment says the company remained exposed to possible enforcement if its challenge failed.
The company argued that it had not been given a fair opportunity to address aerial photographs relied on to conclude that the quarry was not operating before 1964. The judge found that the material was available in the Council’s file and was the kind of mapping and photography the company could reasonably expect the authorities to consider. He said the Board was not required to invite further submissions on it. He also held that the Board’s review decision replaced the Council’s decision, so the company could not separately challenge the Council decision after the review.
The 2020 case challenged the Board’s refusal of leave to seek substitute consent, a route the company sought to use to regularise the development. The Board had relied on its inspector’s report, which found that quarrying had expanded between 2012 and 2019 and that the company had not established exceptional circumstances. The company disputed the expansion finding and said evidence from local people supported pre-1964 quarry use.
The judge found no procedural unfairness. He said the aerial photographs were publicly available and could have been obtained by the company. He also concluded that the local statements did not identify the specific quarry or establish that the later scale of extraction was a continuation of any earlier use. The company had not substantiated its claim that the inspector mistook neighbouring tree-felling for quarry expansion.
The court also struck out the 2020 constitutional claim because it had not been properly pleaded. It rejected the constitutional challenge to section 261A in the 2013 case. The judge dismissed all claims in both proceedings; the judgment did not itself issue a new enforcement notice.