Usk judgement welcomed

"The decision of the Commercial High Court to quash the planning permission granted by An Bord Pleanala to Greenstar holdings for a dump at Usk is vindication for a nine-year fight by local residents."

That’s according to local Kildare County Councillor Martin Heydon, who spoke on leaving the High Court last Wednesday.



The judgement states that the process by which the decision to grant planning permission (twice) by An Bord Pleanala was flawed from as early as 2001, proving a point that the local community have been making all along.

"This was never a case of the local residents not just wanting a dump in their back yard, said Heydon, this has always been just the wrong site for it, from the outset. Yesterdays verdict proves that a small community can take on large corporations and state bodies and win."

In excess of €3 million of tax payers money has been spent on this case so far, while local residents have raised almost €500,000 during the course of what now is Ireland’s longest running planning application.

While there is leave to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court, the comprehensive nature of the judgement means that the likelihood of a dump being granted planning permission for Usk is remote.

"I welcome this decision and congratulate Pat Higgin’s chairman, and all members of the Usk and District Residents Association Ltd (UDRAL) on there persistence with this battle," concluded Heydon, who was recently elected to Kildare Council. He is also a local resident whose farming enterprise would have been affected by the dump going ahead.

Pictured are the residents and members of the UDRAL outside the High Court for the judgement on Wednesday July 8th.