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Toxic waste continues to be dumped in lined pits at La Collette without official permission - an activity branded “illegal” by the Planning Committee.
The Government has been creating artificial headlands containing hazardous waste, such as contaminated soil lifted from previous reclamation, for over two decades, but it has never received planning permission.
The Infrastructure and Environment Department eventually took a 2016 application – which had never been formally presented for approval – to the Planning Committee earlier this month, only for the group of politicians to reject it.
Growing over 20 years, a long 30m-high mound – made up of a series of lined pits of contaminated soil and ash finished off with inert building waste and topsoil – has been built on reclaimed land at La Collette.
Pictured: A mound to partly screen the incinerator was approved by the States in 2000.
IE applied to increase the height of this mound by another 11m.
If approved, it would have increased the headland’s height to 41m, which would be 12m below the height of the nearby energy-from-waste plant.
The department not only applied to grow the existing eastern mound but also create a new mound at the southern perimeter of the reclamation site.
Unanimously rejecting the application, a clearly frustrated Planning Committee said that the Government was putting them in an ‘invidious position’ and called on the Infrastructure Minister to prepare a long-term ‘masterplan’ for States Assembly approval.
Their refusal means that the dumping of hazardous waste still does not have planning permission.
Giving a recent update on plans, Deputy Tom Binet, said: “The Planning Committee’s decision comes into effect once it is confirmed, and a final decision is due at the next public Committee meeting on 13 April.
“Hazardous waste disposal is essential for the Island’s construction industry, so we are considering options to enable disposal to continue at La Collette lawfully until the matter is fully resolved.
"Our department is in the process of developing a proposition that will present short- to medium-term solutions for hazardous waste disposal at La Collette, whilst a long-term plan is developed.
“In the meantime, the waste in question continues to be disposed of in specially designed cells at La Collette as there is no viable alternative for the Island at present.”
The volume of hazardous waste has increased over recent years due to the construction boom, which includes the excavation of previous dumped hazardous waste at the Waterfront.
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