New Quarry Legislation signed into law

Oldtree

http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/PlanningDevelopment/Planning/News/MainBody,28511,en.htm

The new and improved Section 261 came into law last week. It provides mainly for the control of wayward quarries, including no retention applications, It remains to be seem if it will end up as the mess that the previous Section 261 was in 2004!

Strangly this An Bord Pleanala decision granted retention permission for 1.44 hectares to this quarry in Mayo just a few weeks before the new legislation

http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/236961.htm

Oldtree

This was signed on the 15th November 2011. Councils have 4 weeks (13th December 2011) to publish a notice in the newspaper or website and then there are 6 weeks for public submissions (24th January 2012 by the latest).

An outline can be found here:
http://www.mccarthykos.ie/News/November-2011/Quarries--The-Planning-Development-Amendment-Act-2010

and their guidlines notes pdf here:
http://www.mccarthykos.ie/db/Attachments/News/October_2011/Quarries%20%E2%80%93%20New%20Legal%20Provisions/Quarry%20Guidance%20Notes.pdf

Oldtree

Have a look at the ariel mapping here to compare 1995 to 2000 to 2005 to see if your quarry was here in 1995:
"Browse Maps"

http://shop.osi.ie/Shop/Products/Default.aspx#ortho

if not.........;):p

Sundy

If it has full planning permission it doesnt matter if it was there in 1995 or not its quite entitled to be there.

Section 261A is quite complicated and its not just about closing illegal quarries it also includes the regulation of pre-64 quarries which many operators believed to have been sorted with 261.

Companies who have their house in order should be fine. But its astonishing to think that much of the aggregates used in the state funded infrastructure comes from unauthorised developments. only in ireland..

Oldtree

I think you might be correct and I am in the main referring to the cowboys, nontheless all quarries must undergo this new process.

Your faith in the first section 261......... where many unauthorised developments were glossed over and given registration and the cowboys were delighted. There was no right of appeal by anyone making a submission either, very suspect legislation imo. I know of many where no appropiate docs were submitted, no rateable valuations and most suprisingly of all no sign of quarry in 1995 ariel photos which were available to the coco's :eek:

now there is a right of appeal should a citizen make a submission, so this time round the councils cannot brush off the submissions. And they may well look very foolish for being incompetent the first time round, failing in their duty to us, or otherwise i believe that there may have been an envelope passed???

While some quarrys were given registration and went on to obtain planning with the coco and then an bord pleanala, I know of a case where they was no quarry there in 1995 and so the planning is based on a false premise. Should be an interesting one don't you think

now that the 7 year rule is gone there is no excuse for the councils to not take the necessary court action to close the unauthorised developments, but doubtless thay will still try to resist and continue say thats its up to the complaining citizen to take the court action.

Oldtree

Requests for public submissions advertised in Mayo News today with a closing date for submissions 26th January 2012 at 5pm.

Councils will be relying on the public to bring any unauthorised developments that they are not aware of to their attention.

Oldtree

A recent high court judgement may be of interest to anyone with regard to Section 261A, as it found a 2004/5 Section 261 registration to be invallid.

The case was brought in 2008 Pierson & Ors -v- Keegan Quarries Ltd
The judgement was made in 2010.

search for this judgement here:

http://highcourtsearch.courts.ie/hcslive/terms_conditions.show

Within that judgement the judge stated that the following were important:

"ordinance survey aerial photograph of the 5th April, 1973,"
"one might have expected that the existence of that quarry would have been noted on the 1958 ordinance survey map"

Contact the OSI here to find out how to get copies of 1973 aerial photos:

http://www.osi.ie/en/alist/contact-us-business-and-industry.aspx

While it is too late to include the 1973 photos as part of a submission to the current Section 261A, they would be useful in any subsequent appeal to An Bord Pleanala. Perhaps the councils will take heed and do their job properly this time round.