Decision to permit temporary waste water treatment plant in north Louth appealed

The decision by Louth County Council to grant planning permission for a temporary foul sewer pumping station and a temporary wastewater treatment plant outside Dundalk has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Groveview Builders Ltd applied in February of this year, for the development at Raynoldstown Village, Haynestown, Dundalk, seeking planning permission for the construction of a temporary foul sewer pumping station and a temporary wastewater treatment plant to pre-treat wastewater prior to discharging to the public sewer.

It included provision for vehicular access via the substantially completed internal estate road constructed under a previous planning application, as well as all associated development works on a site with an area of c.0.31Ha at Raynoldstown Village.

Louth County Council granted planning permission for the development on 4 July, subject to 14 planning conditions. 

A significant number of submissions had been made to Louth County Council in relation to the development. Residents of the Dundoogan housing estate in Dundalk, along with their neighbours, also raised a petition against the plans. 

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In their petition, the residents listed five main points raised in their letter to Louth County Council, which included that the development would be a source of foul odour, air pollution & noise within a developed residential area; the proposed Development contravenes the permitted Masterplan for Raynoldstown; and that they believed that the temporary nature description of the works proposed is misleading.

One of the conditions included by Louth County Council when granting planning permission, was that: "This permission is for a temporary period of five years from the date of the grant of permission after which time all structures shall be decommissioned and removed from the site at the developers expense and the lands revert back to their previous use unless a separate planning permission has first been granted by the Planning Authority or An Coimisiun Pleanala (on appeal) for the maintenance and operation of the structures on site."

A third party appeal against Louth County Council's decision to grant planning permission was lodged with An Bord Pleanála on 30 July, by Jennifer Lynch and Dundoogan Residents Association; Adolfo Carvalho; and Jiwan Jodhani. 

An Bord Pleanála has not yet indicated when a decision will be made on the appeal.