Call for Council Enforcement Task Force for quarries
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| Images by Ballyshannon Action showing traffic congestion in Kilcullen involving quarry vehicles. |
A dedicated Enforcement Task Force to ensure that every quarry in the county is meeting required regulations and conditions to its operation has been called for by Ballyshannon Action group, writes Brian Byrne.
A request that Kildare County Council set up such an entity was one of a number made by the Group during the public consultation on Kildare's County Development Plan.
The Group also wants direct monitoring of all active quarries by the Council regarding traffic movements to and from the sites, to ensure, inter alia, that all traffic uses only approved routes, and that it should be a planning condition that all hauliers accessing the sites must have tracking telematics.
These requests were highlighted during last week's public meeting to consider the setting up of county-wide community monitoring of the activities of extractive industries. The Group noted that, currently, hauliers are not prohibited from using unapproved routes. On enforcement, Ballyshannon Action chairman Jim Burke said it can't be left to 'a few people in different departments who are only there for a couple of years'.
The Ballyshannon Action Group is awaiting a High Court decision on whether they can take a judicial review against a Bord Pleanala decision that overturned a KCC refusal of planning permission by Kilsaran Concrete to open a quarry in their rural area.
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