A NORTH Donegal community group has called on Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to review an alleged conflict of interest involving a member of An Bord Pleanála.
Sinn Féin Donegal North East TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has called on Mr Hogan to initiate an “independent examination” of An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve a wastewater treatment plant proposed by Donegal County Council on Lough Foyle’s shores.
The Campaign for a Clean Estuary, which opposes the plant’s siting, says it believed there was a “conflict of interest” in the decision, which overruled an inspector’s recommended refusal of permission for the scheme. It noted An Bord Pleanála member Conall Boland, formerly technical director of RPS Consultants, was a signatory to the approval.
The campaign said in a statement Mr Boland should have “excused himself” when the board decision was being taken, as his former employer, RPS, undertook a hydrodynamic and water quality modelling study for principal consultants as part of the scheme.
Mr Mac Lochlainn, who has written to Mr Hogan to call for an independent review, says RPS had undertaken a number of projects for the council, including designing Mulroy bridge and Killybegs harbour development.
The board has confirmed Mr Boland was one of five signatories to the Greencastle/Moville sewerage scheme decision.
The other four were deputy chairman Karl Kent and Brian Swift, Mary McMahon and Jane Doyle.
It said Mr Boland was appointed to the board in 2006, and every member was subject to codes to avoid conflict of interest, including its code of conduct, the declaration provisions in planning legislation and Department of Finance corporate guidelines.
Under section 14.3 of An Bord Pleanála’s code of conduct, “a member or other person referred to at 14.1 shall not knowingly deal with a file relating to a planning authority or a private practice where he/she was previously employed during the previous 12 months or any voluntary or professional organisation of which the person is or was a member during the previous 12 months”.
In his letter to Mr Hogan, Mr Mac Lochlainn referred to Mr Boland’s role as a board member in overturning the recommendation of An Bord Pleanála’s inspector to deny permission for a 600-unit apartment complex on a golf course in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, in August 2010.
He said Mr Boland’s former employer, RPS, worked for the developers on the site.
Efforts by The Irish Times to contact Mr Boland proved unsuccessful this week.
Mr Boland, a civil engineer with a qualification in spatial planning, was appointed to the board by former Fianna Fáil minister for the environment Dick Roche in late 2006 for the period January 1st, 2007, to December 31st, 2011.
Former Green Party chairman John Gormley described it at the time as a “serious conflict of interest”, as he had advised Dublin City Council on its plans for the incinerator at Poolbeg.
Mr Gormley said he did not question Mr Boland’s competence, but said Mr Roche had put Mr Boland in a “very uncomfortable position”.
A Department of Environment spokesman said the Minister was precluded by legislation from interfering in any board decisions.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label wastewater treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wastewater treatment. Show all posts
Monday, 29 August 2011
Friday, 30 October 2009
EU ruling on waste water hits permission for one-off housing
IT will be increasingly difficult to secure planning permission for one-off rural homes that aren’t connected to public sewers, following a judgment of the European Court of Justice yesterday.
The Luxembourg-based court ruled that Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations to comply with an EU directive that waste water from septic tanks is recovered and disposed of without endangering human health.
The ECJ said standards used in granting planning permissions "did not ensure a level of environmental and human health protection as high as that pursued by [the EU] directive".
During the hearing in the case, the commission heavily criticised Ireland’s track record on environmental protection, especially in relation to the handling of waste from septic tanks. It argued that various Irish environmental laws had not enabled pollution to be reduced in practice. It is estimated there are around 400,000 households in Ireland which rely on septic tanks to collect waste water.
The commission claimed there were "serious shortcomings" throughout Ireland which were capable of adversely affecting the environment. EU officials claimed such problems were linked to deficiencies in construction, unsuitable siting, insufficient capacities, maintenance and inspection as well as "inactivity" by local authorities.
However, the commission said the sole exception were by-laws introduced in Co Cavan which had adequately addressed the issue of the disposal of domestic waste waters in the countryside through septic tanks.
In contrast, the Government insisted that, contrary to claims by Brussels, the existing national legislation fully met Ireland’s obligations under the EU directive.
However, State lawyers acknowledged that Ireland had not expressly or specifically transposed the 1975 directive into national legislation even though they argued that Irish law as a whole ensured compliance with all the obligations arising from the EU legislation.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
The Luxembourg-based court ruled that Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations to comply with an EU directive that waste water from septic tanks is recovered and disposed of without endangering human health.
The ECJ said standards used in granting planning permissions "did not ensure a level of environmental and human health protection as high as that pursued by [the EU] directive".
During the hearing in the case, the commission heavily criticised Ireland’s track record on environmental protection, especially in relation to the handling of waste from septic tanks. It argued that various Irish environmental laws had not enabled pollution to be reduced in practice. It is estimated there are around 400,000 households in Ireland which rely on septic tanks to collect waste water.
The commission claimed there were "serious shortcomings" throughout Ireland which were capable of adversely affecting the environment. EU officials claimed such problems were linked to deficiencies in construction, unsuitable siting, insufficient capacities, maintenance and inspection as well as "inactivity" by local authorities.
However, the commission said the sole exception were by-laws introduced in Co Cavan which had adequately addressed the issue of the disposal of domestic waste waters in the countryside through septic tanks.
In contrast, the Government insisted that, contrary to claims by Brussels, the existing national legislation fully met Ireland’s obligations under the EU directive.
However, State lawyers acknowledged that Ireland had not expressly or specifically transposed the 1975 directive into national legislation even though they argued that Irish law as a whole ensured compliance with all the obligations arising from the EU legislation.
Irish Examiner
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
Sewage entering rivers from treatment facilities - report
Raw sewage is being pumped into many rivers and streams around the State because treatment facilities are unable to cope with the high levels of development taking place, a new report has warned.
The report, by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), found that, at the end of 2005, only one in five waste treatment plants in small towns was treating sewage to adequate standards. Less than 40 per cent of medium-sized facilities complied with minimum standards.
This is despite investment in water facilities running into billions of euro in the past decade.
Yesterday the EPA said it believed many waste water treatment plants were under increasing pressure from the development that has taken place throughout the State in recent years. It said the operation management of such plants was "proving to be a significant difficulty for many local authorities".
EPA programme manager Dr Matt Crowe said councils needed to "fast-track planned improvement works and enhanced operational controls to protect the quality of our waters".
"While the EPA acknowledge the scale of work being carried out by local authorities, we are disappointed that the necessary improvements are not happening at a fast enough pace. This is an area that needs attention."
Dr Crowe said the pressure on plants had led to the use of rain-water drains to "discharge untreated and unscreened sewage and industrial waste water into receiving waters".
"The EPA is concerned about this development and wants to see it addressed by local authorities as a priority," he added.
More than 80 per cent of waste water went through secondary treatment, compared to 67 per cent in 2003, the report found.
However, it also said there were inadequate treatment facilities in 30 large towns, cities and suburbs. Ten of these were required by law to have had secondary treatment facilities by December 2000, but this had not happened. These include parts of Howth, Baldoyle and Portmarnock in Dublin, Killybegs in Donegal, Sligo town, Tramore and Waterford city.
It also said the monitoring of discharges from treatment plants was "in need of improvement".
Liam Reid
© 2007 The Irish Times
The report, by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), found that, at the end of 2005, only one in five waste treatment plants in small towns was treating sewage to adequate standards. Less than 40 per cent of medium-sized facilities complied with minimum standards.
This is despite investment in water facilities running into billions of euro in the past decade.
Yesterday the EPA said it believed many waste water treatment plants were under increasing pressure from the development that has taken place throughout the State in recent years. It said the operation management of such plants was "proving to be a significant difficulty for many local authorities".
EPA programme manager Dr Matt Crowe said councils needed to "fast-track planned improvement works and enhanced operational controls to protect the quality of our waters".
"While the EPA acknowledge the scale of work being carried out by local authorities, we are disappointed that the necessary improvements are not happening at a fast enough pace. This is an area that needs attention."
Dr Crowe said the pressure on plants had led to the use of rain-water drains to "discharge untreated and unscreened sewage and industrial waste water into receiving waters".
"The EPA is concerned about this development and wants to see it addressed by local authorities as a priority," he added.
More than 80 per cent of waste water went through secondary treatment, compared to 67 per cent in 2003, the report found.
However, it also said there were inadequate treatment facilities in 30 large towns, cities and suburbs. Ten of these were required by law to have had secondary treatment facilities by December 2000, but this had not happened. These include parts of Howth, Baldoyle and Portmarnock in Dublin, Killybegs in Donegal, Sligo town, Tramore and Waterford city.
It also said the monitoring of discharges from treatment plants was "in need of improvement".
Liam Reid
© 2007 The Irish Times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)