January 2019
30th January 2019
Community Group welcomes commencement of Judicial Review examining Pre-Application Consultation carried out by gold mining company Dalradian.
Greencastle, Rouskey, Gortin Concerned Community LTD known as ‘GRG’, has welcomed the commencement of the Judicial Review at the High Court in Belfast into the largest and most complex planning application ever proposed in Northern Ireland. The group represents residents who stand to be directly affected by Canadian gold mining company Dalradian’s proposal to construct a mine, processing plant and waste storage facility on the area known as Crockanboy Hill in the Sperrin’s, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
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’.
The review, which is being held over a number of days in December and into early 2019, is being led by Gregory Jones, QC for the GRG Group. Mr Jones, a Senior Barrister with London based Chambers Firm, FTB, specialises in Environment and Planning law. Mr Jones QC has spent two days making representations to the Court on significant concerns raised by the group regarding substantive differences which they believe exist between the PAN/PACC carried out in comparison to the final application submitted as part of the planning application to the Department.
The group 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.
Welcoming the commencement of the Judicial Review, Chairperson, Martin Conway, (Greencastle, Rouskey, Gortin Concerned Community) said:
“We are pleased that the Review has now commenced, and our significant concerns are being presented to the Judge for consideration. As a community, 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. Our Senior Counsel, Gregory Jones QC is now outlining our grave concerns regarding what we believe to be significant flaws within Dalradian’s community consultation from start to finish. This same community will be directly impacted by this proposed mine, processing plant and waste storage facility right on our doorstep within this designated conservation Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so we have every right to be given a fair and reasonable chance at all stages in the Planning Application process. This initial process was not, in our view, fair to anyone within the local community, in how it was undertaken.”
There are many conservation designations and considerations assigned to the proposed site, and we believe that the Department for Infrastructure has fundamental questions to answer regarding their scrutiny of this consultation process, especially given that this planning application is one of the most significant to have ever been submitted here, to the same Department who has a duty of care to protect this landscape and setting,” Martin concluded.
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.
The hearing is set to continue on Monday 4th February 2019.
