Council’s plans to buy Glen Ding site from Roadstone for reservoir is a scandal says de Burca
At a recent meeting of Wicklow County Council at which a proposal to locate a council reservoir on Roadstone’s land at Glen Ding, Blessington was discussed by councillors, Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca stated that the proposal was a “scandal”.
Councillor de Burca pointed out that the site in question was subject to a High Court ruling, which obliged Roadstone to reinstate 67,000 tonnes of material that had been quarried from the site without planning permission. The High Court ruled that the reinstatement should occur within 6 months of a Local Area Plan being adopted for Blessington. “Coincidentally, no Local Area Plan has been adopted by Wicklow County Council for Blessington in the meantime, but there is certainly a liability of approximately 10 million euros hanging over that site” says de Burca.
The Green Party councillor believes that if Wicklow County Council buys the site from Roadstone at present, the council may be in contempt of court. “It seems incredible to me that the council would consider paying this company money to take a site off it that has a 10 million euro liability attached to it” says de Burca. “This is yet another example of the extraordinary agreements that Wicklow County Council has entered into with this rich and powerful company. One can only question why this is happening” she says.
She points out that the site for the reservoir is next to the network of illegal dumps that were found on Roadstone’s land. “Only in Co Wicklow would you find a proposal to locate a reservoir for drinking water next to a number of toxic, illegal dumps” says de Burca. “Little wonder that Minister Roche has written to the council threatening to withdraw his department’s funding for the purchase and construction of the reservoir. Apparently this is the first time ever that the department has threatened a local authority with such action”.
The Green Party councillor has called on her colleagues on Wicklow County Council to consider one of the alternative sites for the reservoir that were identified by the consultants employed by the council. “We agreed at today’s meeting to seek a lot more information about the legal situation surrounding the Roadstone site,” she says. “It is my firm hope that councillors will support one of the other two very suitable sites that were identified as part of the consultant’s study”.
De Burca claims she was shocked to hear Fine Gael councillor, Sylvester Bourke, propose at the meeting that councillors should vote immediately to support the site without having serious questions answered about the legal situation surrounding it. “I believe Cllr Bourke’s party should discipline him for making such an irresponsible proposal” she says. “It is the kind of proposal that will drag the Fine Gael party into disrepute if it is not dealt with quickly” she says.
