Fort Dunree board chairperson says planning refusal does not mean the end of €12.5M development
The chairperson of the board of Fort Dunree, John McCarter, has said the decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála to refuse permission for a multi-million euro development at the site does not mean the end of the project.
It was confirmed on Wednesday that An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanala) has refused permission for the €12.5million ‘world-class’ development on the basis it ‘cannot be satisfied’ that effluent from it ‘can be satisfactorily treated and/or disposed of on site in a manner that would not give rise to the risk of pollution to surface water and/or ground water’.
It added that this would be ‘prejudicial to public health and would negatively impact on the Lough Swilly waterbody achieving the relevant water quality status’.
Speaking to the Journal yesterday, Mr McCarter said while the refusal was a ‘big disappointment’, the teams and stakeholders of the development will assess the report in the coming days and ‘hopefully go from there’.
"It’s a big disappointment, there’s no doubt about it. But, I suppose it’s a function of the system and the way it operates.
"Hopefully, we’ll be able to ascertain what the problem is, in detail, and address it in a different way. I’m sure the project team already did address the wastewater, but it obviously hadn’t got approval from the board and I suppose, what we need to do now is figure out what will work. I don’t think it’s a deal breaker and there’s no question about it being the end.”
"It would appear that everything else seems to be ok and the wastewater seems to be the problem.”
Mr McCarter said the entire group working on the project haven’t yet had ‘time to really assess it’ but this will be done over the next few days and ‘we’ll see how we go from there.’
He added how any solution will, however, cause delays and extra cost, but the development must be ‘proper’.