6 acres of Wexford Harbour to be infilled. (1 Viewer)

News from Ireland

Wexford Borough Council have granted planning permission to a monolithic hotel and apartment complex in Wexford Harbour which includes a 2000 space car park. Six acres of the harbour are to be infilled as part of this development.

The potential for destruction of habitat if silt is released into the harbour is great.

The area is designated an Special Protected Area for wild birds under an EU directive.

The decision by the Wexford Borough Council is being appealed by a councillor on 'traffic congestion' grounds. Nobody appears concerned by the plight of the wildlife if six acres of Wexford Harbour are infilled. The review is being carried out by An Bord Pleanala in Dublin at present. Ireland's record on environmental issues is dismal and the numbers of wintering birds is already in 'free fall'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUjrxft6c64

http://www.npws.ie/NatureReserves/Wexford/

Oh, brilliant! Just what we need here in Ireland, more apartments and car parks... :-C

Well, lucky it's election time... The only way this will be stopped is for people to get out and shout about it

RKell1 said:

Well, lucky it's election time... The only way this will be stopped is for people to get out and shout about it

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Thanks for the Info, Wexy, will do my bit to send objections to relevant authorities. Presumably any objection is doomed to failure, sure what´s a scenic seafront for if not to build apartments, marinas and shopping centres on?

Just checked this out
Permission granted in Jan 07,
It's under appeal, looks as if plenty of appeals have been submitted, so file is now closed.
Decision in June timeframe.......
My big concern is, where are An Taisce!!! They should have been screaming the house down on this one. :-C :C

Does Wexford really need this hotel? I visited a few times and feel there is ample accomodation there already.

It's not just a hotel, developer wants to build apartments, revamp shopping area etc..All fine and dandy but a bit of original thought is lacking so as usual the easy options to 'flatten everything' are taken.:-C

Decision time

Bord Pleanala will decide on this case in the next week.

This is going ahead. The appeals against the development were withdrawn after 'discussions' between the appelants and the developer.

Six acres of the harbour will be infilled to make way for a development thats neither required or wanted. This is a Special protected area for wild birds under an eu directive. They are planning a 2000 space car park to be built in the harbour. Can this really be happening???

The following is a description of Wexford harbour........
Waders and wildfowl in particular, are attracted to the area where the flat landscape is accentuated by a number of complementary characteristics that create a safe place to feed, loaf, roost and breed. These features are dominated by the wide shallow harbour with its sandbars and mud-banks.
Over 260 bird species have been recorded to date of which 69 are considered common in winter, with a further 37 being categorised as scarce. This is a wintering ground of international importance for a number of migratory waterfowl including in particular Greenland White-fronted Geese and Brent Geese, as well as Bewick Swans and Wigeon. The reserve has recorded 29 species of duck and 42 species of wader.
Hares are fully protected on the Reserve and on the surrounding townlands of the North Slob.........

What can be done to stop this ?

Why have I not heard this until now? Has there not been any sort of major outcry on this?

No mention of wildlife in the following article but you get the picture.....

http://www.wexfordpeople.ie/news/councillors-have-to-be-separated-after-debate-1118767.html

The greenlight has been given to developers to infill 6 acres of wexford harbour. This will be a catastrophe for wild birds.

The area is renowned for the wide diversity and density of its birdlife. Up to 10,000 Greenland White-fronted Geese occur in winter, a third of the world population. Internationally important numbers of Bewick's Swans and Pale-bellied Brent Geese occur. It attracts waders and wildfowl from Wexford Harbour, where an internationally important flock of Black-tailed Godwits and good numbers of Scoters winter. Slavonian Grebes are regular. Breeding birds include Pochard, Shoveler, Reed and Sedge Warbler, Cuckoo and Tree Sparrow.

The response to this thread has been dismal.

Any suggestions?

Wexy said:

The greenlight has been given to developers to infill 6 acres of wexford harbour. This will be a catastrophe for wild birds.

The area is renowned for the wide diversity and density of its birdlife. Up to 10,000 Greenland White-fronted Geese occur in winter, a third of the world population. Internationally important numbers of Bewick's Swans and Pale-bellied Brent Geese occur. It attracts waders and wildfowl from Wexford Harbour, where an internationally important flock of Black-tailed Godwits and good numbers of Scoters winter. Slavonian Grebes are regular. Breeding birds include Pochard, Shoveler, Reed and Sedge Warbler, Cuckoo and Tree Sparrow.

The response to this thread has been dismal.

Any suggestions?

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Hi Wexy, I havent had time to read through the background info, but if the decision is to build on 6 acres of SPA then in order to do this they would have had to go through the tests of the 1997 Habitat Regulations (which transposes the EC Habitats Directive into Irish Law). See esp Reg 15:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/si/0094.html#zzsi94y1997a15

The Council, and then the Appeal would have had to come to the conclusion that the direct loss of 6 acres of SPA was

(a) unavoidable (no alternatives);
(b) was neccessary for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, and;
(c) the Appelant would have to have worked out a compensation package that would ensure that the loss was rectified so that the favourable conservation status of site was maintained in the long term. Such a compensation package would have to meet certain standards.

If this was happening over here (England) you can be sure that Natural England and RSPB etc would be very hot on ensuring that these tests were shoved right down the decision makers throats.

I cannot think of a reason why a hotel and town centre regeneration scheme would ever get consent to build on SPA in England. I do think I have read previously that Euro Court of Justice (ECJ) have made deliberations on the merits of schemes in structural fund areas (areas where the EU are ploughing in money to raise standards of living) and impacts on Natura 2000 sites (such as SPAs). There is probably case law out there? Sorry cant be more specific on that. If you have the will power try - http://europa.eu/

If the scheme has gone through the planning procedure in Ireland then I guess the only recourse now would be a legal challange in the Courts, which could potentially go all the way to the ECJ. This should surely be done via the wildlife regulators in Ireland (National Parks and Wildlife Service). A crucial question: What is their stance on this development? Occasionally NGOs take on court cases (eg RSPB, WWF) but its very costly, especially if you loose!

I would say your best line of enquiry would be to talk to the regulators in Ireland and understand why this is not an issue to them. This law is just about the strongest piece of wildlife law in Europe, and the EU take it very seriously, so dont give up just yet.

Gareth

An Taisce never seems to be that effective. It all comes down to the developers money and where its going. Irelandd as a whole seems to be slowly being concreted over with ugly bungalows and appaulingly situated houses. Look to the west of Ireland a total and utter disgrace.