Last month, a High Court case commenced between Glanbia Ireland and An Taisce over proposed plans to build a €140m continental cheese plant in Belview, Co Kilkenny.
he judicial review centres on the decision of An Bord Pleanála to uphold planning permission for the joint venture between Glanbia and Dutch dairy producer Royal A-Ware Food Group – a family-owned company in business for the last 150 years.
An Taisce pursued the judicial review – heard by Judge Richard Humphreys – as it contends that An Bord Pleanála “disregarded” issues raised in its appeal against the decision of Kilkenny County Council to grant planning permission for the proposed plant in November 2019.
The debacle has resulted in the sudden imposition of peak milk production restrictions, which it is estimated will impact on at least 30pc of Glanbia’s some 4,500 milk suppliers.
As all sides await the court judgment – expected this June – the Farming Independent looks at the key concerns raised in An Taisce’s December 2019 appeal – including parallels drawn between Ireland’s dairy industry and its now severely restricted commercial peat harvesting industry; An Bord Pleanála dismissals of such arguments; and other substantial issues that have emerged due to the planning quandary.
According to An Taisce’s 15-page appeal, it says granting seven-year planning permission for the cheese plant “would contravene” the EU’s Habitat Directive and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive; plus Ireland’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.
It says “milk supply inputs” for the proposed plant (i.e. dairy farms) “must be fully assessed” in terms of compliance with the above laws; whilst also warning of “adverse implications” for greenhouse gas generation, nitrates impact on soil and water quality, biodiversity loss, and impact for ammonia air pollution.
It points to a 2019 EPA water quality report which highlights “particular concern” over the impact of increasing nitrogen levels “in the south-east of the country” – the region where the proposed plant would be built.
It states: “Regardless of whether the subject proposal will increase the dairy herd and intensify production, Ireland has an obligation to cut GHG emissions, which will require reducing dairy production, not merely keeping it stable at current levels and certainly not increasing it.”
Furthermore, it argues “there are crucial parallels” between this case and the High Court ruling on Bord na Móna’s Edenderry Power Plant in 2015. In that case – An Taisce vs. An Bord Pleanála – it ruled there was “functional interdependence” between the power plant and the Bord na Móna bogs that supplied peat as identified in the application. It was decided that the fuel source (peat) “should have been considered” as part of the application for the continued operation of the power plant.
The appeal says: “Given the comparable relationship with the source of the milk and the proposed cheese plant, An Taisce submits that the source of the milk and environmental impacts associated with milk production must be considered when assessing the subject application.”
It concluded that: “Dairy production, both nationally and in the southeast of Ireland, needs to be reduced. There is no capacity for new milk processing capacity as proposed in this application.”
However, An Bord Pleanala 86-page inspector’s report, published last June, punched holes in many of these arguments.
In granting planning permission, it stated the assessment of indirect effects on an individual farm level “is not only impractical and unreasonable”, but is also “not in spirit” of the EIA or Habitats Directives.
It says the planning submission “provides a sufficient amount of information” on the supply of milk in order for “a sufficient level of assessment” on any potential related impacts, either direct or indirect, to be undertaken and “robustly” concluded.
And that while Glanbia ensures that “best agricultural practices” are implemented on its supplier farms to prevent and minimise emissions, responsibility for policing emissions from farms “is a matter for local authorities and Government agencies”.
On water concerns, it said the 2019 EPA report showed that waterbodies in nearby catchment areas “improved by 16pc as opposed to the overall decline in water quality referenced by An Taisce”.
And on the milk/peat comparisons, it observed: “While the proposed cheese factory is dependent on the supply of milk, there is functional independence in that the raw material is coming from circa 4,500 dairy farms over which Glanbia has no legal right to oversee how these independent suppliers operate”.
An Bord Pleanála concluded that, subject to compliance with 14 new conditions, the proposed development “would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.
The judicial review has shed light on other substantive sector issues – namely, national peak milk processing capacity and ramifications of the country’s planning laws for future development.
Addressing supplier fury on peak milk restrictions (April, May June) up to 2024, Glanbia chairman John Murphy said recently:
“Glanbia has been the fastest growing dairy in the world over the last seven years. We’ve invested hugely, increased our milk pool by 70pc and we’re very ambitious for the future.
“The venture with Royal A-Ware is an opportunity to diversify away from our cheddar cheese dependency in the UK. We were due to kick off this time next year, but now it is totally out of our hands.
“An Taisce has appealed this over 18 months, and we still haven’t got to the starting blocks. This is causing a problem. We can manage about 100m litres of growth over the next year and the year after; but beyond that the churn is full – it’s not possible for us to take in anymore.
“People say ‘do more with the rest of the industry’, and relations are excellent with the rest of the dairies, but the problem is we’re full and, actually, Ireland is full as well. That’s where the problem is.
“The folks making the complaint are not complaining about the facility itself, they are complaining about the impact farmers are having on water quality, nitrates and carbon – and ironically, this situation we’ve been forced into is actually not going to help the environment, it is going to do the opposite.
“This has never happened before in the Irish dairy industry. We are all victims of the whole slow planning process."
