A HIGH COURT JUDGE on December 15 quashed decisions by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) that allowed a concrete batching plant in Chase Village to operate without proper environmental approval, ruling the regulator acted unlawfully and ordering the plant to shut down.

Justice Nadia Kangaloo held that the EMA’s decisions permitting Central Concrete and Pumps Ltd to continue operations, including the grant of a certificate of environmental clearance, were illegal, irrational, and breached procedural fairness.

The ruling came in a judicial review claim brought by Everton Phillip, a Chase Village pensioner who lives near the Derrick Road facility and said he has been affected for years by noise and dust from the plant’s operations.