Councillors vote against ecopark at ‘The Rocks’ in Kilcoole
DEVELOPMENT PLAN VOTE TO PRESERVE SITE AT PRIESTNEWTOWN
AT MONDAY’S County council meeting, councillors have rejected plans for a proposed waste soil recovery facility at Pretty Bush in Kilcoole which would have been turned into an Eco-park.
Wicklow County Council, as part of the River Dargle Flood Improvement Works, wanted to dredge the river bed of over 200,000 tonnes of dredging spoil material which would then be deposited at the Pretty Bush site. Upon the completion and levelling of the material, the site would then be turned into Eco-park.
541 submissions were made in favour of making Pretty Bush an ecologically protected site so no development could take place.
Campaigners argued that the site is of local importance and contained badgers. It is also a foraging area for bats and owls. Cllr Tom Fortune outlined a history going back nearly 20 years of local resistance to development in the area.
Attempts were made to have the site protected back in 1998 due to plans for a proposed landfill.
‘Ironically Wicklow County Council supported the move of the local community and turned down the planning application,’ said Cllr Fortune.
In 2001, Wicklow County Council made an attempt to build a recycling facility at Pretty Bush. Cllr Fortune added, ‘in 2015 Wicklow County Council made another destructive proposal. If it wasn’t for the effort of the local community and politicians there wouldn’t even be a valley there. It would be land filled and buried three times over.’
Later in the meeting, Cllr Fortune stated that there were other, better, site options available to the local authority for the materials dredged from the Dargle.
‘ To say it is purely sand from the river-bed of the Dargle isn’t accurate. Make no mistake, the county council went for a waste licence and this is going to be turned into a dump.’
Cllr Jennifer Whitmore also spoke out against the plans the county council had for Pretty Bush.
‘ The community are totally against it. There were over 400 submissions made and every single one of the local community are against it.’
Cllr Pat Vance said he had recently visited the site and wasn’t able to gain access.
‘It appeared to be more of a dump for road materials. You could actually have an eco-park there. The zoning proposed is greater and stronger than what we have in place at Brittas Bay, Bray Head and the Sugarloaf. It effectively means you can do nothing with the site what-so-ever.’
Cllr Steven Matthews didn’t favour completely sealing off the site. ‘By letting no one into it may have pure environmental value but it doesn’t do anything to further the environmental protection case.’
Cllr Christopher Fox also recently visited the area and felt there was ‘ little community gain in its current state.’ He felt there would be more benefit from an Eco-park.
Cllr Oliver O’Brien said: ‘is this more about getting rid of the dredged materials in Bray? Obviously the people of Kilcoole have spoken out against it.’
The amendment was narrowly backed, with 18 councillors voting in favour, eleven against, two not present and one abstention.
‘ENVIRONMENTAL sabotage’ was what would have happened at the area known as The Rocks, at Priestsnewtown had Wicklow County Council been permitted to open a waste soils facility, according to Independent Councillor Tom Fortune.
Cllr Fortune was speaking following a vote at Monday’s meeting of Wicklow County Council to amend the County Development Plan to preserve the area as a green field eco system and not to have material dredged from the River Dargle deposited there.
‘I am delighted that my fellow councillors voted for this amendment which in effect is to keep the whole area as it is. The idea that somebody could put 300,000 tonnes of material from the river there is unthinkable and it would destroy this area which has its own unique eco-system.’
Cllr Fortune extended thanks to all those who supported the ‘Save the Rocks’ campaign including Brendan Smyth, Stephen Kelly, Tara Ní Cabhagáin and MEP Nessa Childers, who visited the site last week.
‘ The entire community was behind this and the fact that there were 700 submissions made on this plan, 500 of which were made to the proposed amendment reflects the feeling on it,’ Cllr Fortune said.
‘ The council had seven other sites to choose from yet for some reason it would not investigate them.
‘ This amendment should ensure that this site is not touched and that it remains protected from any such development. There are a lot of people who are very passionate about this area and who do not want to see it destroyed. It would have been an absolute scandal if this was allowed to go ahead,’ said Cllr Fortune.
The council owns the wider patch of land near Kilquade known as ‘Pretty Bush’ and had applied to An Bord Pleanála to develop a site where 200,000 tonnes of surplus soil and silt, clay and gravel dredged from the River Dargle in Bray will be deposited.
This dredging forms part of the River Dargle flood defence works which were authorised by An Bord Pleanála in 2008.
The plan also proposes to develop the Pretty Bush ecopark to include looped walking tracks, nature trails and signage.
A decision on the application was expected to be reached by February 2017.
Among the submissions re- ceived by An Bord Pleanala was one from An Taisce, which had objected to the development on animal welfare and water quality grounds.
The group had raised concerns that such a development could interfere with a number of badger setts, which are protected under the Wildlife Act 1976 and the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000.
‘While it has been noted in the EIS that a badger deroga- tion licence has been obtained, An Taisce wish to strongly object to the destruction of five setts (a main sett, an annex sett, a subsidiary sett and three outlier setts) and the possible inference with other setts due to construction proximity,’ according to An Taisce’s submission.
‘Badgers are territorial animals, they are not capable of simply moving into another territory. Given the number of setts being impacted, there is a significant chance that this will cause the collapse of the resident badger population,’ it continued.
The report also referenced fauna including the hedgehog stoat, pine martin, red fox and pygmy shrew which would be temporarily displaced during the site clearance.
More worryingly, the organisation warns that the removal of vegetation could remove 80 per cent of the foraging habitat of various bat species which are found in the area.
In the area of water quality, An Taisce says that otters use the Kilcoole Stream 1.75km from the site.
‘Without appropriate mitigation the subject proposal could damage water quality status, and subsequently otter habitat and would be contrary to the Water Framework Directive,’ the submission states.