Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, Alan Farrell, has welcomed the decision to refuse planning permission for an Anaerobic Digester Waste Treatment Facility in Rageens, Lusk.
“It is great news for the Lusk community that planning permission for the proposed Anaerobic Digester facility has been refused. Upon my own examination of the proposals for the Anaerobic Digester Waste Treatment Facility, I concluded that it is clear that the site selected for the development of this facility was certainly not an appropriate one for a number of reasons. Given that the development of such a plant would lead to a large-scale increase in the number of industrial vehicles on the roads in the area, any Anaerobic Digester plant should be built in a designated industrial zone where the infrastructure exists to allow for an increase in the number of heavy-goods vehicles on the road. Such infrastructure does not exist around the proposed site and the development of such industrial grade infrastructure in a rural and residential area would not be feasible.”
“Furthermore, the impact of such a plant on the local environment and the implications it would have brought for those living in the vicinity and for members of the local community are unacceptable. This would have been exacerbated by the fact that the Anaerobic Digester facility is less than 1.5 kilometres away from the Main St. of Lusk itself. Approval for this plant would have led to a decrease in the values of nearby properties and land.”
“I was concerned about the capacity which the Anaerobic Digester Waste Facility would have had the ability to hold. With the prospects of animal slurry being brought from 50 kilometres away, and the plant’s capacity to process 33% of the brown bin waste generated in Dublin city, it is clear that the development of such a plant in Lusk would not be appropriate. The decision to refuse planning permission for this development is positive news and is beneficial for the greater Lusk community.”