November 2018
Tuesday 27 November 2018
Judicial Review to examine potential substantive flaws in Pre-Application Consultation carried out by gold mining company Dalradian to commence.
One of the largest and most complex planning applications to be submitted in Northern Ireland will be the subject of a Judicial Review next week. The Review which has been granted against the Department for Infrastructure, will be heard on Tuesday 4 and Wednesday 5 December at the High Court in Belfast. It will examine a range of alleged flaws in the Pre-Application Community Consultation process carried out by Canadian gold mining company, Dalradian, operating in the County Tyrone Sperrin’s, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Leave for the Judicial Review was granted to Greencastle, Rouskey, Gortin Concerned Community known as ‘GRG’. The group represents residents who stand to be directly affected by Dalradian’s proposal to construct a processing plant and waste storage facility on the area known as Crockanboy Hill.
The outcome of the Judicial Review has the potential to halt the plans to develop the gold mine, should it find that Dalradian has fallen short in its consultation obligations, and that the Department for Infrastructure has not fulfilled its statutory duty to ensure that the Proposal of Application Notice (PAN), and Pre-Application Community Consultation (PACC), was robust and meaningful.
Leave for the Judicial Review against the Department was granted on the basis that:
‘The Department for Infrastructure failed to have regard to material considerations including substantive flaws in the pre-application community consultation process when deciding not to decline to determine the Planning Application pursuant to Section 50 of the Planning Act’.
GRG has significant concerns that there are substantive differences between the PAN/PACC carried out in comparison to the final application submitted as part of the planning application to the Department.
The GRG group, led by a professional advisory team, claims that the Pre-Application Community Consultation process carried out by Dalradian was vague and ambiguous, and that the complexity of the scheme was such that it confused impacted residents.
Commenting on the Judicial Review,Martin Conway, (Greencastle, Rouskey, Gortin Concerned Community) said:
“Sadly, we believe that we were left with no choice other than to take this Judicial Review to challenge the Departments decision to determine the Application valid, which in our view is clearly flawed. This Judicial Review is ground breaking on many levels, however first and foremost it is on the basis that we believe significant flaws exist within Dalradian’s community consultation from start to finish, causing confusion to the local community. These are the same people who will be directly impacted by this proposed processing plant and waste storage facility right on our doorstep within this designated conservation Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Our group believes that the Department for Infrastructure has fundamental questions to answer regarding their scrutiny of this consultation process, especially given that this is one of the most significant planning applications to have been submitted here, and the various conservation designations and considerations assigned to the proposed site,” Martin concluded.
This is the first Judicial Review of its kind in Northern Ireland – GRG advisors contend that a thorough examination is required of the Department for Infrastructure procedures and decision-making process to determine Dalradian's planning application as valid in view of the procedural and legal issues identified.
