In 2006 the North West Region Waste Management Group (NWRWMG) identified the need for a new landfill site in their Region. NWRWMG identified minimum capacity requirement of approximately one million tonnes of non-hazardous municipal waste.
After a tender process the quarry site owned by B Mullan & Sons Ltd at Cam Road, Coleraine was selected as the preferred landfill site by the NWRWMG.
The Cam Road site was 39.3 acres in size in total - 27 acres of the site to be used for landfill.
The planning application for the site was declared Article 31 by the Department of Environment and was finally approved in 2011.
Almost 2,000 objections were made to the planning application but it was not referred to Public Inquiry and was determined by DOE and the Minister.
A number of issues had to be addressed during the planning process including:
- Site proximity to people & housing
- Traffic / Transport activity
- Landscape / Visual impact
- Flora & Fauna
- Odour
- Dust
- Geology & Soils
- Hydrogeology
- Capacity and lifespan of the landfill site
- Economic Impact
- Community Concerns about cumulative impact of Ringsend landfill proposals
We worked closely with RPS on the planning application and took the lead in managing local stakeholder engagement, media relations, consultation with elected representatives, the Department of Environment, DOE Minister and the Northern Ireland Assembly.