Oral hearing into Vartry plant plans to be held in June
AN oral hearing into the proposed upgrade of the Vartry Water Treatment Plant is due to be heard in the coming weeks.
An Bord Pleanala will hold the oral hearing into Irish Water’s plans from Monday, June 12, to Wednesday, June 14, in the Glenview Hotel.
In November last year, Wicklow County Council granted planning permission to Irish Water to carry out an upgrade of the plant. The development was to include a water treatment building, a low lift pumping station, sludge treatment facilities and sludge storage facility, washwater recovery and settlement tanks and an electrical distribution building to replace the existing water treatment scheme. They also sought to alter the existing reservoir offtake tower, addition and alteration to pipework and structures within the existing reservoir dam, construction of a piped siphon over the existing reservoir dam, demolition of a disused public toilet and associated landscaping and site development works.
The decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by a number of parties, including Inland Fisheries Ireland, the River Vartry Protection Society, the Vartry Anglers Conservation Club, Avoca Cafe and Konrad and Katherine Jay of Mount Usher Gardens.
It was announced in April that an oral hearing would be held, a decision welcomed by Cllr Jennifer Whitmore, who has a background in fisheries and aquaculture. ‘Now we can have the opportunity to have a full discussion and examination of the potential impact of the upgrade,’ said Cllr Whitmore at the time.
‘It’s a chance for people to get involved who might not have realised the size of Irish Water’s plans. Now it will be a completely transparent process.’
Last month, Geoff O’Sullivan of Irish Water said that it was ‘pleased to respond to a request from An Bord Pleanála to participate in an oral hearing into the planned upgrade of the Vartry Water Treatment Plant.’
Mr O’Sullivan also said the Vartry upgrade was a ‘priority project’ for Irish Water, given its importance to Wicklow and south Dublin.