Dublin's local authorities are to be allowed to continue dumping baled municipal waste in their controversial landfill site near Kill, Co Kildare, until the end of 2007.
Rejecting appeals by An Taisce and local residents against Kildare County Council's decision to approve the scheme, An Bord Pleanála also permitted a near-doubling of the annual intake at the Arthurstown site.
The increased intake of 240,000 tonnes per year will bring the volume of waste being deposited in the former quarry to 600,000 tonnes, enabling the Dublin local authorities to fill it to capacity. Had the appeals board not approved a three-year extension of time for the Arthurstown site, the landfill crisis they face would have become even more urgent, with only Ballealy, in north Dublin, still operating.
The board said that, having regard to the established use of the site, and subject to compliance with 10 conditions, it considered that the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area.
One of the conditions specifies that no waste is to be deposited within 30 metres of the boundaries of houses in the vicinity or lands used for stud farming. Another restricts operating hours to 8 a.m.-6 p.m. six days a week.
