Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Member States, Ireland uses a series of size thresholds to help determine whether Annex
II projects should be subject to EIA. In the case of road schemes of the type proposed
(rural dual carriageways), EIA is required for schemes in excess of 8km in length or if
there are considered to be significant environmental effects. In such cases, EIA is carried
out by the local highways authority and submitted to the DoE. After a period of
consultation and a public inquiry (if one is held), the Minister for the Environment makes
a decision on the application. For Annex II schemes falling below the size threshold (less
than 8 km in length) and not considered likely to cause significant environmental
impacts, EIA is not carried out and the proposal is dealt with under normal planning
legislation. This allows for a period of public consultation, with the final decision as to
whether to approve the scheme resting with the relevant local authority. For road
schemes, it is the developer of the project, the CC as local highways authority, who
determines whether or not EIA is required.
After commissioning a report from environmental consultants into the proposed
scheme, Kerry CC decided that an EIA was not required in this case. This decision was
based on the length of the dual carriageway section of the scheme (at 2.4 km, well below
the 8-km size threshold for such schemes) and on the belief that there were unlikely to be
any significant environmental effects. However, following the publication of the
proposals, the Council received a number of objections, mainly regarding the impact of
the new dual carriageway on Ballyseedy Wood. After considering these objections and
the subsequent report to the Council on the scheme prepared by the authority's officers,
the Council's elected members decided to proceed with the proposals. However, this was
not the end of the authorization process, since the Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs)
necessary for the scheme to proceed still had to be served and considered at a public
inquiry (the CPO inquiry). Under the Irish system, members of the public and interested
parties are allowed to give evidence at the CPO inquiry on environmental issues.
However, the inquiry and the subsequent decision (including any alterations to the
alignment of the route) must be based solely on land acquisition, rights of way and access
issues. The CPO inquiry for the N21 scheme was held in March 1996.
Following the Council's decision to go ahead with the scheme, a local organization
objecting to the proposals commissioned an ecological assessment of Ballyseedy Wood.
This assessment concluded that the wood comprised an area of residual alluvial forest
that, although currently lacking protected status, complied with the description of a
priority habitat as set out in the EU Habitats Directive of 1992. These conclusions were
accepted both by the relevant Irish national authorities and Kerry CC, and the site was
subsequently proposed as a Special Area of Conservation under the terms of the
Directive. The revelation of the important ecological status of Ballyseedy Wood resulted
in a number of formal complaints being submitted to the EC concerning its co-funding of
the proposed scheme. It was argued that the Commission should re-consider its decision
to co-finance the project, given its potentially damaging impacts upon a habitat of
recognized European-wide importance. As a result of these complaints, the EC
commissioned an independent study to provide advice on whether there was a need to re-
consider the co-funding of the scheme.
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