Objections lodged against proposed Civic Amenity Site
As An Taisce make their annual callout for the National Spring Clean 2022, the lack of a civic amenity site for the areas around Fermoy and Mitchelstown is once again highlighted. However, plans for rezoning land in Gortnahown in Mitchelstown for the possible development of such a facility is facing opposition, with 30 local individuals making a submission to the council.
If a civic amenity site were to go ahead at the location, it would be the district’s first, and only such site.
However, the various objections cited point to the location which is near a ‘number of rural houses’, as well as in a greenbelt area. The alleged isolation of the site has an access road described as ‘inadequate’, and would allegedly “injure the amenities and depreciate the value of residential property.”
Despite these submissions, and the recommendation by the Chief Executive of the Cork County Council that rezoning not be undertaken at the site, there was warm support for the move almost universally at a full meeting of Cork County Council held in December. The matter was again on the agenda nearly 12 months ago as elected officials commended the communities locally for their efforts in the National Spring Clean which takes place at the same time each year, but decried the lack of support the volunteers were getting to ‘keep the momentum going’.
In preceding years, the council has made it known that there is no funding to provide a civic amenity site to the district, and it was reiterated as recently as 12 months ago, so the installation of a private facility could be a win-win for both locals and the council.
DISTANT SITES
Currently, if people want to recycle their goods at a civic amenity site in the Fermoy Municipal District they have to travel back to Mallow, to Cork City or out of the county to either Cashel in Tipperary or Kilmallock in Limerick. A round trip journey from Mitchelstown to Cashel is 90km, and at today’s rates the average use of 10 litres of petrol will cost approximately €18 in fuel alone, and is patently at odds with the eco-conscious messaging.
Furthermore, there is hope that a civic amenity site in Fermoy Municipal District could positively impact the blight of persistent illegal dumping in the region. Many of the objects which are discarded, like glass and plastic, do not break down readily, and will remain in existence for hundreds of years, and even more, if in that time they don’t cause other environmental damage with broken glass a particular hazard to tyres and wild animals.
The 2021 Tidy Town Adjudicator’s Report gave Fermoy 321 out of a possible 470 marks, while Mitchelstown received 308/470. Mitchelstown received 58/90 and Fermoy 66/90 scores for litter and tidiness. With appropriate supports, the towns, with such natural beauty in-situ, have the potential to score much higher.
The National Spring Clean traditionally takes part in the month of April for the past 23 years. 85,000 clean-ups have been organised with volunteers dedicating a total of 12 million hours to remove around 42,000 tonnes of litter across the country. National Spring Clean 2021 was the biggest and the longest campaign so far, taking place between March and August. 5,543 groups registered to carry out clean-ups throughout the country, and collected an estimated 3,000 tonnes of litter around Ireland.