This article is from page 2 of the 2008-07-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
MEMBERS of Clare County Coun- cil and Ennis Town Council have been warned by developers that the economic effects of no developments being allowed to proceed in and around Ennis will be ‘widespread’.
In the past number of months, devel- opers, including McInerney Homes, Finn Properties and Crystal Partners have had applications for develop- ments totalling over €0.5 billion re- fused in the Ennis environs.
Now, they have come together with other developers, Keco Construction Ltd, Luxury Homes, Paul O’Brien/ Joe McNamara who are facing major setbacks due to the inability of the town’s sewage capacity to cater for
new developments to call on council- lors to address the situation.
The councils have placed an embar- go on any new developments until the commissioning of anew €75 million sewage treatment plant in 2012.
In a joint letter to councillors, the developers expressed their concerns by stating, “In response to the un- certain future of development in the area, we wish to collectively convey our concern for lack of any develop- ment potential in the short to medi- um term.”
They state, “Despite in excess of ten years of unprecedented development and growth in and around Ennis, we are now left in a situation that the area 1S being choked by the chronic lack of capacity in the wastewater
treatment system.
“Although the Ennis main drain- age 1s being progressed, the obvious CLS ECO e NON Co UI NORCUIM KONDO Be -Kisubler ture, which include storm water in- filtration into sewer network, lack of treatment capacity and capacity in the pump station network have been ignored for far too long.
“We are now in a Situation where no development can take place in Ennis until temporary upgrade works are carried out in advance of the com- missioning of the Ennis main drain- age scheme in 2012.
“The effect of no development op- portunities caused by this infrastruc- ture shortfall will be widespread. The economic effects will be felt by the town and council alike.
The letter goes on to state that the employment generated in the con- struction sector, the commercial and retail development of Ennis, and numbers waiting on social housing lists will all be adversely affected by this freeze on development.
It continues, “We feel that it is in- cumbent upon the council to firstly put the necessary plan in place to al- low reasonable future development prior to the commissioning of the Ennis main drainage.”
“We would hope that we could work in conjunction with town and county council to explore all the feasible options and we believe that a successful interim solution would serve the greater needs of the people of Ennis.”