Debate contribution: Waste Management Issues: Warrenpoint

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on 1 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Andrew Muir

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

1 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Waste Management Issues: Warrenpoint

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4563316

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I hope that I am not jumping the gun too much, but I congratulate Robbie Butler on his selection as Chair of the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee. I am looking forward to working with you, Robbie, on what is a wide range of issues in the Department. Collectively, we can achieve an awful lot together, as I did with your predecessor, and, hopefully, we can also do that. I am aware of and understand the local objections and concerns regarding the wider Warrenpoint harbour area, specifically those on waste management activities by Re-Gen Waste Ltd, which operates under a waste management licence that the Northern Ireland Environment Agency issued. At the outset, I will say that I am conscious that there are legal proceedings in relation to this matter, so I will have to be relatively cautious in how I proceed. I also have to make it clear to Members and to everyone that, in everything that I do as Minister, I have to act in accordance with the law. It is really important that we do that. I outlined that in my first Question Time in this place back in February, and I will continue to do that. I am also aware of the concerns that have been expressed in emails that come through our Department and of social media commentary on the matter. I am aware of how people feel about it. I appreciate that and take it on board. I have noticed that some of the social media commentary is a bit regrettable, and I ask people to reflect on that. It is important that we are respectful to each other, to the officials with whom I am privileged to work in DAERA and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and to people more widely. On 9 July 2024, I met a number of local elected representatives for the Warrenpoint harbour area in order to hear their concerns and those of their constituents. As I said at the outset, I am constrained in my response by the fact that, in November 2023, an application for a judicial review was lodged against my Department in respect of the waste management licence relating to the facility. I confirm that those litigation proceedings remain ongoing. The Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 governs the granting and regulation by my Department of waste management licence activities in Northern Ireland. In accordance with article 8 of that order, a waste management licence cannot be granted by my Department unless prior planning permission is in place. I am advised that the operator in question obtained appropriate planning approval on 10 May 2013 and subsequently was granted a waste management licence from my Department on 28 October 2013. The operator's waste management licence allows for the transfer, prior to shipment, of no more than 500,000 tons of refuse-derived fuel waste per annum and the storage of up to 20,000 tons at any one time. The waste may not be stored for longer than three months. So far, in the 2024-25 year, my officials have inspected the operator's facility on nine occasions: 9 May, 17 May, 13 June, 26 June, 9 July, 23 July, 6 August, 28 August and 17 September. I am advised that, at the most-recent inspection of the facility by my officials, on 17 September 2024, it was deemed to be in compliance with its licence conditions. My officials undertake extensive and regular odour monitoring assessments of the facility. Similar assessments are undertaken by other stakeholders — for example, Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, environmental consultants on behalf of the operator and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council's environmental health department. The odour monitoring assessments by my officials are undertaken in line with odour technical guidance and are completed using olfactory sense-of-smell monitoring at several set locations in the locality. However, evidence of odour beyond a site boundary may not mean that a facility is in breach of its licence conditions. I go back to my opening remarks in saying that whatever I do has to be in line with the law. A breach depends on the scale, intensity and duration of the odour in line with the odour technical guidance. In August and September 2023, my officials identified some minor non-compliances with the conditions of the operator's licence. Those included matters relating to waste storage, the control of odour and the control of pests. Following intervention by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, the operator put in place measures to address those issues and to come back into compliance. The measures included but were not limited to increased waste shipments, odour suppression techniques and increased bale wrapping at the RDF production point. Following my meeting with local representatives on 9 July 2024, I instructed my officials to arrange a multi-agency meeting to ensure that all relevant authorities with potential involvement in the issue are engaged with each other on a collaborative basis in seeking to identify and address any remaining issues. A multi-agency meeting, which included a site inspection, was held by my officials on Wednesday 28 August 2024 and was attended by relevant officials from the Public Health Agency, the Health and Safety Executive, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the environmental health department of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. I am advised that no major concerns about the facility were raised by any of the agencies that were at the site inspection and meeting. However, all agencies have agreed to share relevant information and intend to meet again before the end of 2024 to continue to monitor the situation. I wish to thank all the other agencies for their input and their engagement on the matter. My officials conduct and will continue to conduct regular and extensive monitoring of the facility at Warrenpoint harbour in line with regulatory requirements, including carrying out unannounced site inspections and odour assessments, and, if needed, will take any further necessary and proportionate enforcement action in line with the DAERA enforcement policy. In recent weeks, the stock levels of RDF waste stored by the operator at Warrenpoint harbour have greatly reduced. I am advised that the control of RDF waste bale stock levels at Warrenpoint harbour is a logistical matter for the operator. I will make a few points in response to some of the issues that were raised in the debate. On the sharing of information with the landowner, which is Warrenpoint Harbour Authority, the Member will be aware of the Data Protection Act and the legal obligations that it imposes. That would inhibit some of the issues that the Member outlined. Other Members have engaged with Warrenpoint Harbour Authority on this issue, and I encourage them to continue to do so. Night inspections would require us to do a trawl through previous inspections to learn what happened. The inspections vary in scope and depend on the circumstances. The two-minute inspection that was mentioned was a digital recording error, and people have been informed about why that was a short period. We take those responsibilities seriously.

The key issue is that Re-Gen, as an operator, has an obligation to the wider community. I encourage it to listen to and engage with the wider community and to act on that, because it is absolutely key that that occurs.

I am aware that there are issues in other parts of Northern Ireland. That has been referenced in the debate. We need to work collectively to resolve the issues. People know that I have engaged with elected representatives, a number of whom are in the Chamber, on the issues, but we have to work collectively. I have to act within the law. I also have to engage with site operators. Where there are litigation proceedings, that can make life a bit more difficult when it comes to engagement. I am determined to work together with people on that. I would also reiterate that I understand the concerns —.

1,332 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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