Wicklow County Council is to be challenged in the High Court over its decision to cease the collection and disposal of commercial refuse from September 15th. In the High Court yesterday, Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, counsel for Wicklow and District Chamber of Commerce Ltd, told Mr Justice O'Sullivan the council had collected trade waste for the past 90 years and had ended the service with less than three months' notice to anyone.
Mr O'Donnell, who appeared with Mr Pat O'Dwyer, said trade waste from shops, hotels and small businesses was not being collected by the council, whose decision had created a chaotic situation.
He said that while there was a statutory obligation on local authorities to collect domestic waste they had the power, without obligation, to collect trade waste and Wicklow County Council had exercised that power for the past 90 years.
Mr O'Donnell said the council, without warning, research, public consultation, discussion or explanation announced it was no longer going to collect commercial waste.
"The decision came completely out of the blue, with the only explanation being that there was no statutory obligation on them to do so," Mr O'Donnell said.
Mr O'Donnell said there had been a dispute over the location of a new superdump in Co Wicklow. There had been a number of court challenges and in February of this year the High Court had held that a decision to relocate the dump was not covered by the council's development plan.
The council's decision not to collect trade waste had arisen out of this, creating a chaotic situation, particularly in Wicklow and Arklow. In Wicklow only one private company was prepared to provide a collection service and not until last weekend had a private company expressed an interest in providing a similar service for Arklow.
Mr O'Donnell told the court the Chamber of Commerce took the view that the discretion which the council had to not collect commercial waste had to be lawfully and reasonably exercised.
He said the statutory situation in relation to waste collection had changed dramatically with the passing of the Waste Act in 1996 which obliged local authorities to adopt a waste management plan. Wicklow County Council had never adopted such a plan and it would appear it was in breach of its obligations to do so under the Act.
Mr O'Donnell said there had been a draft waste management plan which did not provide for a decision such as the council had taken. While his clients accepted there was an obligation on everyone to accept responsibility for refuse collection, they felt it was unreasonable and unfair of the council, after 90 years of trade waste collection, to say with little warning and no consultation: "Sorry, but you must sort this all out by yourselves."
Mr Justice O'Sullivan granted the chamber leave to seek a declaration that the council's decision was ultra vires, void and of no force or effect.