Three new regional waste management plans, which cover the entire country, were launched in May 2015 and are available to view and download on each individual Waste Management Planning Lead Authority’s website as well as on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, www.epa.ie.
Section 13 of the Plans addresses, inter alia, historic and legacy landfills in each waste management planning region and sets out the number of sites which have been assessed as high, medium and low risk sites, as well as the number of sites which have yet to be assessed. Furthermore, Appendix F of each of the Plans sets out more detail in this regard at the individual local authority level.
The Waste Management Planning Lead Authorities (WMPLAs) are required by the end of 2015 to have ranked the high-risk sites in accordance with the risk screening process set out in the Plans, with a view to prioritising landfills for remediation over the lifetime of the plans. This process has been completed. Each region is then required to develop and agree a road-map before the end of 2016 which prioritises the investigation and remediation of the priority ranked landfills over the period 2015 to 2021. My Department will continue to work with and support the WMPLAs, through the Waste Management Planning National Co-ordination Committee, to progress the remediation of the landfills to be identified in the remediation road-map referred to above.
In addition to the above, the Programme of Measures which Ireland agreed to deliver to ensure full compliance with the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in case C-494/01 and which is available on my Department’s website, at the following weblink: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Environment/Waste/FileDownLoad,30458,en.pdf, sets out, inter alia, details of remediation projects undertaken to comply with the 2005 judgment. Recognising the dramatic improvement in waste management and enforcement practices in Ireland since that judgment was delivered, including the remediation of a number of problematic landfill sites, the European Commission were fully satisfied with our multi-stranded response and actions and closed this case in October 2015. In this regard, it is worth noting that my Department and local authorities have expended approximately €125m on landfill remediation since 2005.
My role in relation to the planning system is primarily to provide and update the legislative and policy guidance framework. The legislative framework comprises the Planning and Development Acts and the Planning and Development Regulations.
Under planning legislation, the decision as to whether to grant a planning application, with or without conditions, is a matter for the relevant planning authority in the first instance, and An Bord Pleanála in the case of appeal. In making decisions on planning applications, planning authorities and the Board must consider the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to the provisions of the local development plan, any submissions or observations received, as well as relevant Ministerial or Government policies, including any guidelines issued by my Department.
Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case, with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be concerned.
