Hearing told of falling house prices near planned landfill

House prices near a proposed landfill in north Dublin have already fallen by 30 per cent, even before the facility has planning permission, a Bord Pleanála hearing has heard.

The value of houses sold within a half-mile radius of the proposed Fingal County Council landfill at Tooman/ Nevitt in north Co Dublin has reduced by 30 per cent over the last year, while houses within a one-mile radius have been devalued by 10 per cent, a property consultant said.

The hearing into the council's application to develop the landfill on an 85- hectare (210-acre) site and to compulsorily purchase houses on the site was also told that the development would have a "severe" or "major" effect on nine farms in the area and would result in the closure of five. The landfill would be less than 4km from Lusk, 5.5km from Balbriggan and within commuting distance of Dublin city at 20km.

Roger McCarrick, a Sligo estate agent and property consultant, who was commissioned by the council to research the effects of the proposed landfill on local property, said house prices had shown a decline from the initial announcement of the site as the preferred option, and in the past 12 months "real values" of houses sold within the half-mile radius were down by 30 per cent. Some local estate agents had reported that it took up to 12 months to sell some houses near the proposed site.

Mitigation measures put in place to manage the landfill, such as the health and environmental standards, screening and landscaping and a community fund, could, if effective, result in a gradual improvement in property prices, he said. However, his own research over the past six to eight years showed that prices could take up to five years of successful operation of a plant to return to normal.

Conrad Wilson, an agricultural scientist retained by the council, said that more than 200 hectares of agricultural land over 11 farms would be compulsorily purchased. Two would suffer only minor effects from the landfill, but on four the impact would be "major", with any farming continuing with "increased management difficulties and associated costs". The impact on the remaining five farms would be so severe as to force the farms to close.

The landfill, if operated properly, would "not pose a material threat to human health", a doctor retained by the council told the hearing. Dr Martin Hogan, an expert on toxicology and the effects of industry and waste management on health, said there was insufficient evidence to suggest that the landfill site would increase rates of cancer, birth defects or other serious illness.