The High Court has ordered Wicklow County Council to remove waste from an illegal landfill, restore the site and return possession to Brownfield Restoration Ireland Ltd. within 78 months of the order.
In a judgment delivered on 19 July 2017, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys set the terms for remediation and resolved disputes about the regulatory processes and timetable. The ruling formed Module III of the hearing, concerning the terms of the formal order. The court had previously decided that, in principle, the council should carry out full remediation of the site, which the judgment described as the biggest illegal dump discovered in Ireland.
The order requires the council to remove all waste, along with soil and other material contaminated or potentially contaminated by it, from every area of the site, including areas where remediation had already been attempted. It must send the material to a licensed waste disposal facility, fill and landscape the site with inert matter sourced elsewhere, and return possession to Brownfield within 78 months.
The court set out 15 intermediate steps, including appointing an environmental consultant, preparing and consulting on a remediation plan, returning to court to resolve any outstanding disputes, appointing a contractor, carrying out the works and conducting limited post-remediation monitoring. The council is bound to carry out the steps, but the timetable for each stage is indicative; the overall 78-month deadline is binding.
The judge rejected the council’s position that the ordered works required an EPA licence. He also held that environmental impact and appropriate assessment procedures were not required for removal works directed by the court, although the council could include assessment measures and consultation in its plan. The parties had agreed that planning consent was not required for the court-ordered works.
The court declined to set aside public procurement requirements on grounds of urgency. It found that the environmental risk and breach of the licensing regime justified an order under section 58 of the Waste Management Act 1996, but did not amount to the extreme urgency needed to dispense with procurement procedures.
The hearing was to proceed to Module IV on costs in these proceedings and the 2005 proceedings, and any consequential or other matters arising.