Cork horse trainer loses appeal of order to clean up protected lagoon

A Cork horse trainer and farmer has lost his appeal against a High Court ruling requiring him to clean up part of a protected lagoon outside Carrigtwohill, that had been illegally filled with construction and demolition waste.

The Court of Appeal rejected a challenge by John Collins against the High Court approval of an application by Cork County Council seeking him to carry out remediation works on his lands at Brown Island, Ballintubber West, Co Cork, in an area known as Ballintubbrid lagoon.

The High Court, which criticised Cork County Council’s delay in taking proceedings against the landowner, heard the cost of remediation could be as high as €5m.

Mr Collins had sought to reclaim a portion of the lands in 2004 for use in his equestrian business.

He originally secured approval for such reclamation works from the National Park and Wildlife Service on the basis that the risk of significant adverse effects to the Great Island Channel Special Area of Conservation were low.

Mr Collins subsequently carried out further reclamation works which resulted in the loss of a large area of wetland habitat, despite being denied planning permission for such development in 2009.

An inspection of the land later by council staff discovered a large amount of construction and demolition waste had been spread across the land to create practice gallops for his horses. 

Mr Collins pleaded guilty to a charge at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in February 2020 of disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause pollution and was fined €50,000 after which Cork County Council began proceedings to have the lands remediated under the Waste Management Act 1996.

Giving the Court of Appeal ruling last week, Mr Justice Charles Meenan noted a complicating factor due to delays in the case was the lands had become home to protected species of otters and bats over the years.

Mr Collins claimed any removal of the infill now would ironically be likely to contravene EU environmental legislation.

Mr Justice Meenan, with Ms Justice Caroline Costello and Mr Justice Anthony Collins, also expressed surprise that the High Court ruling had been appealed as it had directed that a “staged approach” should be taken to restoring the lands before final orders would be made in the case.

The judge said Mr Collins’ claim that the trial judge had erred in making final orders was “completely misplaced” as it was perfectly clear she had not done so.

He pointed out that the High Court could still order in situ remediation to be allowed, as proposed by an expert hired by Mr Collins, if it proved the better solution.

The Court of Appeal also dismissed his appeal against a High Court order, which required him to have a waste licence to carry out the remediation work.

Mr Justice Meenan said he agreed with Cork County Council that Mr Collins’ interpretation of the legislation that it only applied to ongoing dumping so that the court’s powers would lapse once “the last lorry had left the land” would lead to “a bizarre situation”.

He noted that Mr Collins also contested the High Court’s finding that his unauthorised works had resulted in environmental damage in terms of risk of flooding and impact on Wigeon ducks which “triggered” the jurisdiction of the court.

The judge said his guilty plea in court showed he accepted the fact the waste deposited on his lands had caused environmental damage.

Mr Justice Meenan said the appellant still had a legal obligation to have a waste licence, notwithstanding the fact that he had ceased depositing waste on his land.

Dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal ruled that the council being “entirely successful” should be entitled to its costs, although it allowed Mr Collins 10 days to object to such a cost order.