Quarry to close?

Harrington quarry may be closed

Áine Ryan

A QUARRY near Knock airport, owned by Mayo Person of the Year, Mr Frank Harrington, may be the subject of Circuit Court proceedings by Mayo County Council to enforce its closure, if a recent ruling by An Bord Pleanála (ABP) is not obeyed.
County Council spokesman, Mr Joe Loftus, told The Mayo News yesterday (Monday) that it will contact Mr Harrington immediately regarding the implications of this decision and, moreover, give him ‘the opportunity to put things right’, but that ‘the bottom line is the law must be complied with’. He confirmed that Mr Harrington has a number of options under the legislation but declined to comment on these as it might prejudice any future dialogue between both parties. 
“The position is that if a development requires planning permission [and continues to operate] we will have to take enforcement action, including Circuit Court proceedings, if that becomes necessary,” said Director of Services, Mr Loftus. He said that, not only could this lead to the closure of the quarry, but it could also result in an order to restore the relevant lands to their former state.
Despite the recommendation last year of the ABP Inspector Paul Caprani that operations at the quarry at The Stripe, Charlestown, be retained – subject to ten conditions – the board decided to refuse retention at a meeting on July 8 last.  
Originally recommending retention, subject to ten conditions, Mr Caprani had observed that the development ‘will not seriously injure the amenities of the area or property in the vicinity and would generally be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area’.
However, at the recent board meeting, it was decided to refuse permission since the quarry had ‘commenced operation after October 1, 1964’ and therefore does not benefit from any planning exemptions under provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000. These provisions effectively allowed a planning amnesty for quarries opened before 1964.
The board also noted that it was the beneficiary of ‘more comprehensive information’ than was available to the Inspector, due to the receipt of further submissions by objector Mr James Leonard after its Section 137 notice.
In its directions, the board stated: “It is considered therefore that the quarrying activity on site constitutes unauthorised development, and that it would be inappropriate for the Board to grant permission for retention of the processing equipment as applied for (including crushing, screening, washing plant and ESB substations) since to do so would facilitate the continuation of unauthorised development on the site.”
When contacted by The Mayo News yesterday a spokesman for Mr Harrington declined to comment on the matter, other than confirming that it was with the company’s legal advisors.
According to an An Taisce report in 2007, Frank Harrington’s 180-acre quarry at The Stripe, to the west of Knock Airport, is the ‘largest single bogus 1964 quarry’ in the country.
“There was an area of small-scale quarrying extraction at the east of the site, near the public road, pre-1964, but most of the land unit which comprises the current quarry area was acquired during the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s as has been established through Land Registry research, including a huge area of extraction used for the construction of Knock airport,” the report on quarries states.
“Such was the enthusiasm for the construction of this major State-funded project that nobody had any concern at the legal and planning permission status of the site,” it also notes.
This report, by Ian Lumley, highlights ‘the ineffective action’ of Mayo County Council in enforcing planning legislation, which he argues ‘is being subverted by systemic condition compliance breach and tolerance of unauthorised development’.
The Planning and Development Act in 2000 was devised to provide a proper national framework for the regulation of the quarry industry.