Archived press release

Cookstown faces landfill legal challenge

19 May 2004

Friends of the Earth (Northern Ireland) today revealed that it has warned Cookstown District Council that it intends to issue a legal challenge over its decision to withhold environmental information [1]. The green group has informed the council that it will seek a judicial review if the requested information is not released.

The campaigners have requested inspection reports from the Drumshambo Landfill site but Cookstown Council has refused to hand over the reports citing 'commercial sensitivity'. Friends of the Earth believes the council has misunderstood the law [2] and is acting illegally by withholding the documents.

Commenting, Declan Allison Waste Campaigner with Friends of the Earth said:

"By refusing to release this information Cookstown Council is riding rough shod over the law. The Council is legally obliged to release this information. But it must now heed this warning - Friends of the Earth is prepared to take this matter to judicial review if needs be."

Declan Allison continued:

"Cookstown District Council claims this information is 'commercially sensitive' - I suspect 'politically sensitive' is more accurate. These reports must be pretty embarrassing if the council is so keen to suppress them. If the council has nothing to hide then why doesn't it hand over the documents?"

Notes

[1] The Drumshambo site, Drum Road, Cookstown, is owned by Cookstown District Council. It was operational from December 1988 until July 2000 and was licensed to take municipal waste. Friends of the Earth, however, received allegations from members of the public that unlicensed waste was dumped at the site. These allegations prompted the group to request information on the site from Cookstown District Council. The Council, however, has consistently refused to adequately address the request and in
doing so has acted illegally.

[2] The Environmental Information Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: [email protected]

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust