Councils to decide on future use of Tullyvar Landfill

AN English-based company has offered to purchase the Tullyvar Landfill site between Ballygawley and Aughnacloy for the nominal fee of just £1.

OPES MRF 2013 Ltd is based in Buckingham and supports the recycling industry by dealing with the residues that arise from the sorting process at landfill sites.

A proposal is set to be discussed over the next few months for OPES MRF to buy Tullyvar and assume all current and future liabilities associated with the site.

royalty charge

They are also proposing to charge a royalty of £3 per tonne for all waste that goes into or over the weighbridge at the site, as monitored by monthly reports.

Tullyvar is currently owned and run by Fermanagh and Omagh and Mid Ulster District Councils. It was previously used as a quarry.

Details of the proposed purchase were recently discussed at a meeting of the Tullyvar Joint committee, held towards the end of 2024. The next meeting is due to take place next month.

solar

But the potential purchase could be put on hold as a result of plans to develop a solar farm on the site. An economic appraisal for such a development was undertaken in 2019.

Although the joint committee has agreed to engage with OPES in relation to a possible sale, they have now agreed to await the findings of a new Solar PV report before giving further consideration to the sale proposal.

It has been estimated that the cost of a solar farm is around £375,000, and there are currently four potential options for development, with each focusing on a designated area of the large site.

The councils believe that the payback on each option would take around four to five years and this would contribute towards achieving net-zero by 2050.