Friday 22 June 2007

SEA needed for decision on Fingal sewage plant: council

FINGAL County Council is not pre-empting in any way the outcome of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the GDSDS strategy, which includes a proposal to build a regional sewage plant at Portrane.
The local authority council has also said it will not attempt to make any decisions about the recommendations within the Greater Dublin Strategic Drainage Study, before the full SEA is published.
Last week, campaign group Fairshare said it was getting indications that Fingal County Council might be prepared to cut a deal with the community on the controversial proposal.
Fairshare claimed that in return for dropping the proposed plant, the council was lining up to propose that Portrane take an outfall pipe linked up to a 22km orbital sewer. However, the council has said the assembly of the SEA is a statutory process which will require at least two distinct phases of open public consultation.
‘The SEA process is still ongoing and cannot be interfered with, nor would we wish to do so,’ said a council spokeswoman.‘We are therefore waiting for the outcome of the independent assessment in the SEA before we examine the options for treating wastewater in the region, that may arise from its findings.’
Fairshare’s Neil Dempsey said the group is against the orbital sewer.
© Fingal Independent

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