Council offers hope for Dunmanway planning

COUNCILLORS say they are hopeful that some planning applications will be approved for Dunmanway.

The problem with planning arises from the fact that water from the town’s wastewater treatment plant is being discharged into a special area of conservation (SAC).

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that new EU regulations mean that even treated water cannot be discharged into an SAC.

There had been talks of relocating the discharge pipe 50m away from the SAC but Uisce Éireann said that is not the solution.

Although the town’s wastewater treatment plant was built 10 years ago, additional capacity is required now.

Both the location of the discharge pipe, and the need for additional capacity at the town’s wastewater treatment plant, is restricting new builds.

Despite several meetings with Uisce Éireann, Cllr Declan Hurley was angry when he was told that the work could take 10 years to get on the organisation’s next programme of works.

Cllr Hurley and Cllr Deirdre Kelly expressed concern that planning applications for residential and commercial developments are being refused by Cork County Council.

However, at a recent meeting Cllr Kelly said senior Council officials had issued a letter saying it would look favourably on planning applications.

The reason for this, according to Cllr Hurley, is that there is still some capacity in the wastewater treatment plant. ‘The Council are willing to do their part,’ Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) said during the discussion. But he said Uisce Éireann needs to come up with a more permanent solution to the problem.

The Fianna Fáil councillor did express some sympathy for Uisce Éireann. ‘They were to take over water production and the way it was distributed but they ran out of money because they failed to convince people to pay for water. Uisce Éireann is not going to work until people start paying for water,’ he said.