This article is from page 10 of the 2006-07-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
A SOLICITOR’S letter from the Whelan Group informing a number of residents living near its flagship quarrying operation that the company was seeking to issue proceedings against them has been described as an ‘unwarranted threat’.
At the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing into plans by the Whelan Group to extend its quarry by 40 acres on the outskirts of Ennis last week, consultant Peter Sweetman said that a letter was received by the residents on Christmas Eve, 2004 with a warning that Whelans were going to issue proceedings against Cairn Hill Environmental Protection Group Ltd and its members.
Acting on behalf of the objectors, Mr Sweetman described the letter as an ‘unwarranted threat’. He said, “The residents were not told what the proceedings were about. This letter is the only consultation made by the developer with the local residents.”
Mr Sweetman read a submission from the Whelan Group at the oral hearing last Wednesday accusing Cairn Hill Environmental Ltd of objecting to every single development lodged by the Whelan Group and expressing its serious concern that the whole objective of Cairn Hill Environmental Protection Group Ltd was to appeal any development made by Whelans.
Mr Sweetman said, “The objective of the Cairn Hill Environmental Protection Group Ltd is to protect Cairn Hill from the Whelan Group.”
Plans were lodged for the quarry extension in 2004 and earlier this year, Clare County Council granted planning but limited the extent of the area to be quarried.
Mr Sweetman told the oral hearing that the application which is the subject of the appeal was invalid in law and “a blatant example of project splitting”.
The Whelan Group also appealed the Council’s recent decision on the proposed quarry extension, claiming that the jobs of 110 people could be under threat because the Council restricted the multi-million euro expansion of the operation to a ten year lifespan.
The Whelan Group is seeking permission to extend the life of the quarry by 26 years and will have an operating capacity of producing 370,000m of limestone product a year.