Green Party to officially complain to European Comission.

dublin | environment | press release Tuesday July 22, 2003 17:34 by microgreenie

Over the refusal by South Dublin County Council to request an Enviromental Impact Assessment.

The Green Party is to lodge an official complaint to the European Commission over the refusal by South Dublin County Council to request an Environmental Impact Assessment for the Adamstown development at Lucan, which is currently the subject of an An Bord Pleanala oral hearing.

Lucan representatives Paul Gogarty TD and Councillor Fintan McCarthy will be making a complaint to the European Commission as a result of the breach of European Directive 85/337/EEC (as amended 1997) on Environmental Impact Assessment.

Green Party TD, Paul Gogarty said, “The Directive outlines the procedure to be applied to the assessment of the environmental consequences of certain public and private projects which are likely to have a significant effect on the environment. The Planning scheme fails to require an Environmental Impact Assessment upon the entire development site prior to the commencement of construction. This is an indefensible position for a planning authority to take given that we are talking about the largest single development in the history of the State.”

“The reasoning behind the refusal to specify the need for an overall assessment of the environmental impact of the development revolves around whether or not what is planned for Adamstown constitutes a project or not. It is not good enough that wordplay is used to avoid the obvious need for a comprehensive assessment of the development,” added Cllr McCarthy.

Both Green Party representatives are attending the Adamstown hearing each day and are assisting residents groups in their appeal against the flawed plan. Counsel for the ‘Deliver It Right Campaign’ today outlined its reasons why an EIS is required under Irish and EU law.


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info from south Dublin County Council o Adamstown:
on http://www.sdcc.ie/index.aspx?pageid=1171

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from the Lucan online letter:

Adamstown – “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly”

The Good.

An Bord Pleanála have granted an Oral Hearing, commencing Monday July 21st Gresham Hotel. It’s expected to run for at least 8 days.

In the next few weeks you will have an opportunity to provide practical support to ensure Adamstown is responsibly developed as funds are raised to support the costs of the appeal.

The Bad

The Adamstown plan was passed by the Council without many of our key proposals. This appeal is the one and only chance we have to put this right.

The Ugly

The Developers have mounted a significant appeal to push back further on many aspects of the plan. So bad and all as it is – it could get worse. A lot worse.

They do not want any link established between development of houses and provision of schools

If they have to provide schools they want to be able to provide temporary buildings – so kids will be sitting in prefabs on a building site…

Flooding & sewerage – they are pushing back on the level of works required

They want to increase the number of dwellings allowed in each of the first 5 phases by 50%, and lessen the infrastructure required

There are some positive points to the Developers’ proposals though too. However they make a very explicit threat if they don’t get what they want – any concessions in their treatment of Adamstown are off.

As always we will be focusing on constructive input with a view to getting the best for existing and the new community of 25,000+
http://www.lucannewsletter.ie/Political.htm
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the open hearing began yesterday.