The High Court found that Slattery Pre-Cast Concrete Limited’s operation at Coolnakilla, near Rathcormac, had expanded far beyond its planning permission. It indicated immediate restrictions on the business, including a cap of 15 heavy goods vehicle round trips a day and a ban on ready-mix production exceeding half of total production. The court left the detailed form of the orders for further submissions by counsel.
In a judgment delivered on 19 September 2008, Mr Justice Clarke considered proceedings brought by Cork County Council and a separate claim by three individual plaintiffs. Both sought enforcement orders under section 160 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The individuals also claimed nuisance from noise, dust and other effects.
The court found that the original 1997 permission covered a modest pre-cast concrete operation on 0.9 acres. By 2007, the operation occupied about 12.5 acres and included substantial stockpiles, additional plant and other structures. The judge found a material change in use, citing the growth in heavy vehicle traffic, noise, dust and effects on the rural landscape. He concluded that use involving more than 15 heavy vehicle round trips daily, and ready-mix production above 50% of total production, was unauthorised.
The court applied a seven-year enforcement limitation period. It found that, by July or August 2000, the fixed batching plant was largely in place but was not yet operating substantively, and the business had not then intensified enough to amount to a material change in use. Enforcement was therefore barred for structures already in place at that time and for the concrete use of land already incorporated into the operation by then. Later structures, further expansion onto land, and the later intensification remained enforceable.
The judge declined to exercise discretion in the company’s favour, citing the scale of the breach, the refusal of a 2005 retention application by An Bord Pleanála and continued expansion beyond what that application showed. He indicated that later structures should be removed and land outside the mapped boundary restored to open ground under grass, subject to arrangements with the council. He also indicated an immediate restriction on work outside that boundary, pending agreement on restoration.
On nuisance, the court found the individual plaintiffs entitled to damages for past nuisance, but postponed assessment of the amount. It made no nuisance injunction at that stage, leaving the plaintiffs liberty to apply if nuisance continued after the planning restrictions took effect.