Green residents vow to fight ‘bunker’ plan
RESIDENTS of Talbot Green in Wexford are vowing to fight plans by Gas Networks Ireland to build a large gas regulator on the Green.
‘ They are not coming into Talbot Green, to an area with children. That’s not going to happen,’ said Breda Hendrick, who previously successfully campaigned with other residents against plans to build a car park at the Green.
‘ They are not putting a big box in front of people’s houses, it’s disgraceful,’ said Breda.
‘ They have already put two holes in our lovely green. If we have to sit down in front of the diggers we will do. There will be murders over this, they won’t get anywhere with it,’ she said.
‘It’s a concrete bunker as far as we’re concerned, there is no place for a concrete bunker on the Green,’ said Gerard Kehoe, spokesman for the Talbot Green residents.
‘We are going to object to it on various grounds and will be asking the councillors to oppose it, he said.
‘It’s dimensions are 14 feet by five feet wide and nine feet high with a pitched roof and vents. It will be directly on the footpath in front of the houses on the Green. This is a zoned amenity area and they are planning to put it bang in the middle of it,’ said Mr Kehoe.
‘It’s in a play area for the kids and we are worried about the environmental impact of it.. the planning application says it has vents, so it must be able to vent something.. it’s a natural gas pipeline so what else is it going to vent?’
Mr Kehoe said residents were each going to submit objections to the planned development and questioned how Gas Networks Ireland could submit an application for such a structure on land they do not own.
He also questioned the lack of consultation with residents, saying none of them had been informed about what was planned by Gas Networks Ireland in advance of a planning application notice being published.
Mr Kehoe said he had been in touch with Gas Networks Ireland to try to get more information, but had been unable to get any more details.
Gas Networks Ireland, which is seeking planning permission for the installation of the ‘District Regulator Installation (DRI), in Talbot Green and in the Hill Street car park says ‘it is a standard piece of equipment located at regular intervals along gas networks’.