Replacement Wicklow Waste Management Plan is a charter for private waste sector says de Burca
Following a presentation of the Replacement Wicklow Waste Management Plan to the council’s Water and Environment Services committee this week, Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca has called the Plan a “charter for the private waste sector”.
The Green Party councillor states that she is particularly concerned that the Plan does not contain any provisions for local authority landfill capacity after the Rampere landfill in West Wicklow closes in 2010. “This means that in the future Wicklow County Council will be entirely relying on privately-run landfills for the disposal of waste in the county” says de Burca. “The Director of Environmental Services himself told us at the meeting that he had no idea when Greenstar intends to develop the landfill for which it received planning permission almost two years ago. He said that despite repeated approaches the company has not given the council any clear idea when the landfill will be up and running. This leaves the council very much at the mercy of the private sector”.
Cllr de Burca also expressed concern at the fact that most of the new waste management facilities that are to be developed according to the plan, are to be developed by the private sector. “I have no problem with the private sector being fully involved in the waste sector but I also see a dynamic role for local authorities” she says. “In my own opinion the Murrough Recycling Centre in Wicklow Town is run to a much higher standard, and its staff appear to have been better trained than the privately run Civic Amenity Centre at Ballyogan in Dunlaoghaire Rathdown County Council’s jurisdiction. And despite the fact that local authorities often run very good and reliable public services, there appears to be a rush to privatise everything including important waste services”.
Councillor de Burca believes that the plan has also failed to set out a clear and coherent policy on illegal dumping in the county. “I think the flawed decision that was made by Wicklow County Council requiring Roadstone to convert the illegal dump on its lands at Blessington into a legal landfill, which was subsequently overturned by the EPA on strong environmental grounds, shows the need for the council to develop an acceptable official policy on illegal dumps. This Replacement Plan has failed to do that”.
The Green Party councillor is calling on members of the public to examine the Replacement Waste Management policy when it goes on public display from Monday 27th February until Friday 28th April. She says that the plan will be available for viewing in all of the Town Council offices, the County Council office, in all public libraries and can be bought in CD format for 6 euros. “This is one of the most important documents that will be produced in the county over the next five years” says de Burca. “I hope that members of the public will go to view it and that they will make submissions to the plan if they have any concerns about it, or issues they wish to comment on”.
