Ok this post is all about blowing off some steam about some of the flaws in the current implementation of the leap card system. Let’s put this way, i’m not entirely sure what’s the point in it being “live” when these issues are present, as I consider them pretty much fundamental to the the usability of the system. So instead of just venting on this here blog I decided I would pop off a nice construcive email to the folks at leapcard.ie HQ.

Below is the email I sent this morning with added pictures for blogging posterity cus who likes to read just a bunch of text!

Leap Card Feedback

My name is Colin Broderick and I’ve recently purchased a leap card and have been mostly satisfied with its ease of use on Dublin Bus and Luas services. However there are a number of issues which detract considerably from what can be a fantastic product and are as follows.

Your website (leapcard.ie) is not user friendly in that it’s navigation structure is very difficult to navigate, this is especially evident when you login to the “My account area”.

When one is logged in it is not immediately apparent what services are available. The only difference that is apparent upon staring at the screen for a number of minutes is two extra items on the left navigation bar. Clicking the manage my profile link on the right, brings you to a page where the main body has information which is irrelevant for the main purpose of being logged in, such as what is a Leapcard, newsletter signup and info on getting your Irish rail /Luas card as a leap.

This is the screen you are presented with after login. Useless.

It is not immediately apparent where one can view their Leapcard balance, this is hidden in a sub menu only available when you click manage my profile, which frankly does not link to any sort of profile management either. Another issue is that when signed in and one returns to the root page/main page (leapcard.ie) the extra navigation options are not present in the left nav bar.

This is the page you get when you click "Manage my Profile" after login

This can be simply remedied through the sign in redirecting to the accounts page such as a user/account dashboard showing total money spent through leap or monthly money spent alongside a current balance and possibly a list of last three journeys. Navigation links for the actions available during login should be moved to the right hand navigation, where the login box was.

I like the majority (some 68%) of the population in Dublin use the Dublin Bus service for my public transport needs, I live in north county Dublin near the airport and as such do not live nor work near a Luas stop or Irish rail station. As such I cannot check the balance of my leap card without registering online, where I believe the details in which must be provided are onerous (i.e. having to provide a date of birth and full address). And if one does not have a credit card or laser card you cannot complete a registration as bank details must be provided. I do not understand why there is no facility to simply query the balance of a card online?

Top Up online is not topping up online as far as I can make out. Similar to the last point, what’s the point of providing this facility when I still have to visit a Payzone outlet or a Luas or Irish rail station in order to “activate” my top up. You already have the money, it just defeats the purpose of online top up. Surely the balance can be disseminated throughout the card reader system, including those on the buses.

As regards, buying a Leapcard, I had no issues as I ordered it online and it arrived two days later with a nice information leaflet on how to use the card. However another family member of mine purchased their card at a Payzone location in the Dublin 9 area and only received a card with no information leaflet. Is a customer meant to only receive a card or are they to receive a card and information leaflet exactly like those ordered from leapcard.ie?

One final issue I have is as regards the woolly statements provided as regards future functionality specifically travel rebates, the wording only suggests that changing between modes will be rebated, such as changing from bus to Luas or Luas to Dart, etc. There is no mention of rebates for multiple journeys on bus, such as getting a bus to town from the south-side like the 14 and then changing to an airport bus like the 41. I assume since the system appears to be modelled on that of London’s Oyster card, will there be a flat rate Bus charge introduced instead of multiple fares with a rebate after like 5 journeys?

While I understand the leap card is in its infancy and there will be teething problems and issues to iron out, however I cannot understand how the product was released across the city without these services being fully functioning.

To end on a positive note I really like the leap card and really hats off to you for finally getting some semblance of a combined transport card out into the open for Dublin. I hope this can seen as constructive feedback.

Kind Regards
Colin Broderick

If you have any gripes with the leap card, I would love to hear them! Comments below.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Dublin Bikes – Over 6000 sign up!
3. Dublin Rapid Transit Map – Feedback please!

The group took a very visual approach by producing a video instead of the norm, a powerpoint presentation, which i must say was highly polished, well thought out and professionally done. The video begins with an introduction to Utrecht followed by an overview of the question being posed; Utrecht a place for knowledge? Then revealing a complete spatial analysis and possible interventions which could be made.

Importantly the video illustrates the issue with scale and viewpoint  you use when analyzing any urban area, something which I think can be lost in Ireland through the predominate focus on major national projects as opposed to smaller, more local interventions. The video refers to

viewpoint and scale = resolution

I also believe this is very apt for Dublin given that we too are striving to be a knowledge city and looking to out compete other cities like Barcelona. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from the interventions proposed alongside how to better present how we came to these conclusions to the public.

Utrecht: a place for knowledge? from knowledgeinutrecht on Vimeo.

Keep in touch

Get your daily dose of me through my twitter @Rusty1052, your daily Irish Planning News courtesy the paper.li aggregator.

Not down with any of these new things? Or maybe you would like to offer me a job or use my services? Well sure just drop me an email at colinb@dt106ers.com. Will be great to hear from you! (Whoever you maybe).

Peace out planners!

No related posts.

Not sure if you remember but last year a Aris Venetikidis completed a future fantasy (with a lot of fact) complete transport map for Dublin as part of his design masters at NCAD, you can view his work on his website ventikidis.com. It was fantastic to finally see someone produce something well thought out and could actually work, except for there was one problem it didn’t reflect what is on the ground now!

We all know Dublin’s public transport network is not the best but hey it works (most of the time). So I figured we don’t have a map showing the most frequent routes in the city, so why not make one? Here is what I have come up with, it include Dublin Bus, Luas and Irish Rail/DART:

The Map

(Click for Full Image)
Please I would love to hear feedback from you regarding the above map, any and all feedback is welcome via twitter email or the comments below!

So what is Rapid Transit?

There is a pretty standard definition the world offer that most will agree on and that is:

A Rapid Transit Route is one in which a service operates at frequency of 15 minutes or less

You might be wondering why there are some routes missing off the above map. Well I shall explain, I conducted an extensive audit of all the Dublin Bus timetables for all bus routes. I got an average peak frequency for the buses and then found there average off-peak frequency for Monday – Friday buses only. All routes shown above operate Monday – Sunday however Saturday and Sunday frequencies can vary substantially from weekday frequency. So you can view the spreadsheet below which is the data I was working from:

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. [UPDATE] Dublin Transport Map v1.5
2. Dublin Bus releases Network Direct – Phase1
3. Bikes on the DART, what about in Europe?

In 2006, Dutch cycling organisation Fietsberaad commissioned a report into cycling in European cities. The dutch knew their cities have high levels of cycling (for instance almost 40% of all trips undertaken in Groningen are by bike) but wanted to understand how they had got here and if the process could be reproduced in other cities.

The starting place for the report was of course census results. These results gave two bits of interesting, if not expected, results:

1. Most european cities had high levels of cycling in the 1920-1950s, low levels during the 1960-1970s and since the mid seventies were experiencing a renaissance in numbers. This was true for cities with high levels ( eg Copenhagen) and low levels (eg Manchester) of cycling.
2. Socio-economic and spatial-economic factors influenced cycling levels. So some socio-economic groups showed a higher tendency towards cycling that others (middle class people cycled more than people on unemployment benefit). Furthermore, spatial-economic factors such as city relief, transport costs and car parking availability were also important.

Keen to further understand the success of cycling in major cities, the report continued on to examine transport and planning policy in key cities. The authors wanted to understand how cities dealt with their specific influencing factors (as derived from analysing census results) and to encourage a modal shift towards cycling.The findings give an good example of why cycling flourishes in some cities. Let’s take a look at some re-occurring themes.

A man with a Plan

A mayor, a councillor, or a transport chief with a long term vision of the city. These visionary were able to look at the city transport or layout and assemble a strategy for the future with cycling at the foreground. These men often faced hugh obstacles in pushing through their plans. Businesses and car drivers would often deride the plans to curtail the primacy of the car. However the visionaries stuck firm to their plans and drove through their policies. Or else they put their plans into practice secretly; the transport chief for Copenhagen took a few parking spaces out of the center of Copenhagen every year. Over the course of a decade, whole streets were opened up for cycling lanes where once cars were parked.

NIMBYism

Picture the scene: you live in the city center, you have kids, you enjoy the lifestyle, you read in the paper one day that the road outside your door is going to be upgraded from a two lane street to a 8 lane motorway. What do you do? Yes, you guessed it, you object. Dutch cities faced this problem in the 1970′s as they moved from manufacturing, industrial cities, to service-orientated cities. As the factories pulled out, large spaces opened up in the city centers. Council transport departments saw an opportunity to upgrade the road network and improve traffic by building more, or bigger roads. Dutch residents had a different vision. They wanted peaceful, relaxed cities where kids would be safe to play and the air would be clean to breath. Over the course of years, planners began to recognise what sort of cities the residents wanted. A city without cars was productive to a city with bicycles.

If you build it, they will come

If cycling lanes in Ireland had a theme song, it would probably be the Talking Heads hit “Road to Nowhere”. So many irish towns and cities have cycling lanes that are literally baffling. Dutch transport planners knew that cycling infrastructure had to be top class to entice people to cycle. A strip of paint on a busy open road was always seen as a last resort.

Instead quality cycle lanes,often segregated from the road were built. Furthermore, other key infrastructure, such as covered parking bays was also closely looked at. The responsible authorities listened to cyclists and made changes were possible. Uninterrupted cycle lanes were introduced and fly-overs built to avoid dangerous junctions. The concept of ‘kaizen’ (continuous improvement) was also introduced. This resulted in a constant appraisal of the infrastructure and improvements where necessary. Dedicated teams maintained cycle paths and looked for ways to improve the experience of cycling in the city.

Sex sells

Or so say the advertisers. How can we translate this to cycling policy? Easy, tell people of the bene?ts. Make it look cool. Make it look necessary. Advertising can also kills falsehoods, for instance that cycling is dangerous, or that it always rains. Dutch policy makers were keen to explore this angle and ensure that their investments were not in vain.

Lesson to be learned

Cycling policy in Ireland lags far behind our european neighbors. While it is full of good intentions, it fails in practice. Cycling levels are among the lowest in Europe. Cycling paths are poor at best, and often added in as an afterthought. Their is hope however. Portland, Oregon experienced a 65% increase in cycling levels between 1990 to 2010. The Irish will cycle again one day if we can get the right people together with the right ideas.

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Do you like what you have just read? Maybe you are interested in being a guest writer too. Email me at colinb@dt106ers.com

Related posts:

1. The Pedal Project: Three Cycling Cities – From Dublin to London to Amsterdam
2. [Guest Post] The need for transportation planning and urban development to be closely aligned
3. Survey by TomTom says Dublin traffic among worst in Europe

Ireland being an island nation with its major ports on the east and south coasts of the country relies heavily on road transport for the distribution of imported goods nationally. There is a minor reliance on rail transport for distribution of goods as it is considered to be more efficient to use the road network to deliver small and bulk freight. One way of addressing the issue is to look at the subject of transportation and land use and how we can reduce journey times between towns and cities throughout the country.

Background

The Von Thünen Model for use of land

It was revealed by JH Von Thünen in his 1826 paper “The Isolated State” that from an agricultural perspective, transport and the location of goods could be more efficiently dealt with by locating fresh produce growing appropriately to optimal transport corridors which would deliver the goods more efficiently and cost effectively. We can use

this example to demonstrate the sustainability of land use when transport is considered in an urban context. Von Thünen’s theory stated that the products with the highest production costs would be located closest to the market place. For example, grain production would be located closer than livestock production to the market place.

Although Von Thünen was demonstrating the efficiency of the transportation of agricultural produce, the theory can be explored to look at how this concept can be applied to the transport of people from residential areas to retail and commercial areas. In other words, how we deal with people movement as well as the movement of goods.

Alonso’s Bid Rent Curve

The National Spatial Strategy (NSS)promotes the strategic and sequential release of land whilst concentrating development in areas where “it is possible” to integrate employment, retail & commercial as well as public transport. The NSS also advocates consolidation of existing areas and regeneration of brown field sites ahead of green field sites. This is clearly a ‘work with what we have’ approach as it uses the networks already existing, or at the very least, networks that could be conveniently reintroduced.

Building on Von Thünen’s model, Alonso came up with a more modern approach through his Bid Rent Curve or what is sometimes known as the Central Business District Theory (CBD). This theory related to the location of business to the critical masses. The logic of the CBD theory was that the greater access to population for business, the more profitable it could be in commercial terms.

Global Factors

At present we are experiencing political unrest in middle?eastern countries such as Libya, Iraq and Bahrain as well as Tunisia and Egypt. The impact such unrest is having on Europe is fundamental as the political stability of countries such as Iraq, Libya and Bahrain have a direct influence on the price of oil. At time of writing, the cost of crude oil has reached $110 a barrel (22 March). The affect of political unrest on the production of oil is a major factor in the cost but so is the transportation of oil as freight.

It is estimated that 3 million barrels of oil travel daily via the Suez Canal, which is controlled by Egypt. Primarily this freight is bound for the USA and to a lesser extent, the Western European market (Vanderbruck, 2011).

Not only does this raise the issue of how strategic transportation of oil coming from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait is to Europe and the United States of America, it also raises the issue of what those western continents must do to address the heavy reliance on fossil fuels produced in the middle? east. This puts an onus on the Western economies to address how we deal with the supply of a product vital to the sustainability of all the countries that have become major end?users.

The subject of oil and the reliance of Ireland on it during recessionary times, poses a serious question in terms of transport and land use. Urban transport in Ireland up to now has not been problem because we have always had an abundance of reasonably affordable oil to power our public and private transport. However, with unrest in the middle?east and no indigenous supply of our own during the worst economic downturn in the history of the state, Ireland is vulnerable and must look to reduce our heavy reliance on imported fuels. We can do so by looking at how and where we

locate our central business districts and residential areas. This also leads back to the NSS and the policy of consolidating built up areas.

Political Factors

In 2009 the then Irish government made up of Fianna Fail/Green Party brought forward a policy document called Smarter Travel – A Sustainable Transport Future. This document outlines the difficulties faced by Ireland during the current economic recession in terms of transport provision and presents a plan to address the needs amid current economic constraints.

In his foreword of the document, Minister Noel Dempsey acknowledges that current transport trends are unsustainable and pursuing outdated policies will have an adverse impact on the economy and society in general. The document also acknowledges the importance of aligning transport and spatial planning to prevent urban sprawl. The culmination of the policy is that smarter travel is encouraged as an alternative to private car use. The policy offers a commitment to radically changing and improving the public transport system to encourage people to live in closer proximity to places of employment. It is a very strong policy document but is unlikely to be adhered to by the new Fine Gael/Labour government.

The current Programme for Government 2011 – 2016 is weak in terms of direction for promotion of sustainable land use and how it will be addressed but there is mention of giving more control to local communities in terms of transport and traffic that could be a positive step toward bringing the powers of delivering public transport and roads into the local governance sphere rather than the current centralised model currently in place whereby national government delivers on public transport and other community infrastructure such as schools and health care facilities. If such a policy is implemented by the current Minister for Local Government, we may see a new joined up approach to transport planning and spatial planning which will benefit the quality of life for citizens.

Density

As mentioned earlier, the NSS promotes consolidation of the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) to ensure economic competitiveness as well as ensuring a cohesive approach in terms of development. Crucial to future consolidation is the densities of residential developments. It is essential to encourage higher densities to manage the supply of local services in a more efficient way. When we allow urban sprawl to occur, we stretch the provision of services such utility provision and public transport. For

example, if the Rural Housing Policy of Fingal County Council was abolished and it becomes easier for people to build one?off housing units on agricultural sites, we will create urban sprawl but more detrimentally we will create a situation whereby sewage treatment cannot be provided, public transport does not serve areas where population growth is taking place because of the sporadic development.

However, if we designate land around Balbriggan train station where people can live in close proximity to a transport hub, this will create a more sustainable lifestyle for the residents who can avail of transport provision close to where they live. The latter scenario is what is being promoted and supported by the NSS and RPGs in an effort to bring land use and transport together, thus encouraging people to live and work in areas accessible by transport.

Urban Transport

Currently planning authorities are working from policies within the RPGS which promote development along key transport corridors. According to the RPGs, two types of Green Belt have been established, large outer greenbelts to earmark areas where the minimum level of development should take place and smaller connector green belts where space between urban areas and rural areas can be preserved. Consolidation of development has been an objective of planning guidelines since the publication of the SPGs in 1999. Policies delivering consolidation of development are pursued in order to concentrate development around transport corridors with the objective of minimising urban trips using private transport. Concentrating development around transport nodes ensures an efficient use of public transport as an alternative to private transport.

Conclusion

Taking into consideration global factors such as the cost of imported fossil fuels which will influence travel patterns of both private and business users, it is vitally important for planners to bring together transport planning and urban development through consolidation. The economic factors such as availability of disposable income and access to cheap finance which was abundant during the “Celtic Tiger” years but now dramatically lower mean that policies within the National Spatial Strategy and the Regional Planning Guidelines are essential to address the quality of life for people who may not be in a financial position to obtain private transport. In addition, bringing together transport planning and urban development ensures a more cost effective way to deliver public transport projects to support the existing communities and those emerging.

It is clear that with policies such as the NSS in place to consolidate our developed areas we are moving in the right direction. However, the question must be asked as to whether we have the political will to concentrate development in appropriate areas designated for that purpose. The matter of ‘Ghost Estates’ along with the overhang of land zoned for development in a number of local authorities throughout Ireland would tell us that there must be a change in the political culture ahead of any sustainable approach to a more cohesive relationship between transport and land use. Until the mindset of our public representatives is set to deliver on sustainable development, we will continue to see sporadic land zoning occurring with urban sprawl being the result. It will take a number of decades for infrastructure to catch up and until then populations of those areas will be subjected to a low quality of life where inadequate physical and social infrastructure are the norm.

As always!

Comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader!

Related posts:

1. [Guest Post] Cycling policy in europe, what the Dutch found
2. Planning board shoots down €50m development
3. Spatial Planning, Transport Planning, the Rational Planning Model. What are they….?

Proposed Incinerator location (Indaver Ireland)

An Bord Pleanla has refused planning permission by direction today for the proposed amended Waster to Energy Hazardous Waste Plant (for you and me an incinerator).

I can’t seem to find the direction on the Bord’s website yet however the original bord file can be found here.

As the application was considered strategic infrastructure it has its own website: www.ringaskiddywastetoenergy.ie

This post will be update when the conditions for refusal become available. But one can safely assume as part of the EIS, Indavor could not mitigate against the concerns raised in relation to flooding and emissions.

Below is the article from the irish times on the news:

An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission to Indaver Ireland for a proposed €150 million twin incinerator project in Cork harbour.

An Bord Pleanála signed off on the decision yesterday for the proposal for the Ringaskiddy site and communicated the decision to the various parties today.

Indaver Ireland had originally applied for planning permission for a 100,000 tonne hazardous waste incinerator, a 140,000 tonnes municipal waste incinerator and a transfer station.

In January 2010, Bord Pleánala refused planning for the municipal waste incinerator but said it was considering granting planning for the hazardous waste incinerator and the transfer station.

It said Indaver should make some changes to its environmental impact statement to address concerns over flooding, coastal erosion and revised emissions.

In May 2010, Indaver reduced the size of the buildings by 40 per cent while retaining the same capacity while it also made changes so water would be recycled rather than discharged.

Environmental group Chase has campaigned against the project saying the proposed site is unsuitable due to risk of flooding and erosion.

During a four-week oral hearing in May and June 2009, the group also questioned the need for the facility and expressed concern about its impact on public health in the harbour area.

IrishTimes - BARRY ROCHE

As always folks comments are welcome, you can follow me on the tweet machine @Rusty1052. Only want the blog? Subscribe to the RSS Feed with your favorite reader! Finally, Rest in Peace Mr. Brian Lenhian.

Related posts:

1. The cities waste goes to Dundalk, Offaly, Kildare and not Cavan
2. Dublin Port expansion plan refused
3. Poolbeg incinerator developers seek meeting with Cowen

Each Tuesday over the next ten weeks, tune in to Streetfilms as we’ll be posting a new chapter about smart and proven strategies to reduce traffic and improve street safety for all users.

Source: Moving Beyond the Automobile

The series will tackle a number of topics which  may be of interest to you including Congestion Pricing, Carpark Pricing and Transit orientated Development. However what got me most was they have produced a vid on Bus Rapid Transit. Big THANKS to the guys for this as it is providing the perfect intro to my thesis on a BRT orbital Network for Dublin! Check out the video below!

Moving Beyond the Automobile: Bus Rapid Transit from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Have good week and keep it real folks! Dont forget to subscribe to the Feedburner in your Reader of choice!

Related posts:

1. Haughey suggests moving oil storage tanks out of Dublin Port
2. Dublin Rapid Transit Map – Feedback please!

Maybe for the council it might be worth looking at the contract and supplying the incinerator due to become operational at Carranstown in Meath later this year. It’s been granted a license to dispose of 150,000 tonnes of waster a year. The facility is owned and to be operated by Indaver Ireland.

Image: copyright Indaver.com

One final question I would really like to know the answer to is when will the Minister grant permission for foreshore license so construction on the Poolbeg waste to energy plant can get under way!? Also why not deal with the waste at source and not truck it all the way to Meath and get on with building the incinerator at Poolbeg?

SOME 25,000 tonnes of Dublin’s household waste is to be sent to landfill sites in Louth and Offaly following the closure of a Cavan dump operated by private waste company Oxigen.

The company has decided to close its operations at the landfill in Corranure, Co Cavan, four months after being awarded a contract by Dublin County Council to dispose of the capital’s household waste at the site.

Landfill operations will cease within the next month. Dublin City Council said it understands the waste will instead go to landfill sites at Whiteriver, Dundalk, Co Louth, and Derryclure in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

The decision has been taken following signals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it intended to refuse a licence for the operation of the Corranure site.

The city council last November awarded contracts to Oxigen and Bord na Móna, worth about €10 million, to take almost 150,000 tonnes of Dublin waste following the closure of Arthurstown, the last municipal landfill serving the region. The Arthurstown landfill, the dump used for most of Dublin’s waste, was about 4km over the county border with Kildare, but was owned and operated by South Dublin County Council.

Dublin City Council had anticipated the end of the capital’s landfill capacity for more than a decade but had envisaged that the Poolbeg incinerator would be up and running by now. Work on the incinerator began in December 2009, but has been suspended since last May.

……

Irish Times – Closure of Cavan dump sends capitals waste to Louth, Offaly sites

As always comments are welcome!

Related posts:

1. Policy on waste management in crisis, says expert
2. Cork hazardous waste incinerator refused by the Bord
3. Gormley publishes International Review of Waste Management Policy

“In many decisions in the past An Bord Pleanála has been a shining beacon.  However this latest decision represents a further nail in the coffin of proper Regulation in Ireland.  It highlights that poor planning, which was at the heart of Ireland’s banking failure and consequent economic collapse, continues to be a major issue.  An Bord Pleanála is the independent body appointed to decide on major planning matters.  An Taisce believes that in this decision, the Board has failed to properly take account of the legislative requirements of the Habitats, Birds and Environmental Impact Assessment Directives and An Taisce detailed such issues in its substantial submissions made to the Board.  This grant of approval flies in the face of a number of European Court of Justice Rulings and indeed sets the Board up as contending it has more insight into the law than the Supreme Court of Ireland, on matters such as the integrity of Natura 2000 sites.”
Chair of An Taisce Charles Stanley-Smith – “Corrib Gas Pipeline Decision legally flawed” An Taisce

Below the article as written by Lorna Siggins in the Irish Times today:

AN TAISCE intends to seek a judicial review of An Bord Pleanála’s approval for the final section of the Corrib gas pipeline.

The environmental organisation’s chairman Charles Stanley-Smith believes the board’s ruling last week was “legally flawed”, and may have “major implications for the status of implementing European directives in Ireland”, including the habitats directive.

An Taisce’s view is supported by the Environmental Pillar of Social Partnership, involving a number of non-governmental organisations.

The board approved the final section of gas pipeline through a special area of conversation, Sruwadaccon estuary, with 58 conditions. The decision was welcomed by Shell EP Ireland, the Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation (Ibec), the Pro-Gas Mayo Group and the Erris local contractors’ association, involving businesses which have benefited from the project to date.

However, it was criticised by community group Pobal Chill Chomáin, Shell to Sea and An Taisce.

An Bord Pleanála inspector Martin Nolan said the new route plan would not put the public at risk, and would have a “remarkably light impact on the pristine environment of the area”.

Work cannot begin before issuing of a foreshore licence, and approval of consents under the Petroleum and Gas Acts, by the Ministers for the Environment and Energy respectively. Under planning legislation, groups have eight weeks to file a judicial review of the board’s ruling.

Both the Environmental Pillar and Shell to Sea have expressed fears that such consents could be “fast-tracked” before the general election, due to the weekend resignations of Eamon Ryan and John Gormley, the two Green Party deputies holding these portfolios….

The Irish Times

Although I am still not convinced that the Bord acted in a manner that was ultra vires to its powers. However only the judicial review and time will tell! Comments as always.

Related posts:

1. Corrib pipeline gets approval from Bord Pleanala
2. An Taisce urges council to ‘dezone’ Dunleer land
3. 130 objections lodged against Shell licence application

Bord Pleanála has approved Shell E&P Ireland’s third proposed route for the final section of the Corrib gas pipeline with 58 conditions.

Inspector Martin Nolan, who chaired last year’s resumed oral hearing on the revised plan, says that the application’s “clarity and transparency” provides “confidence that the safety of the public is fully protected, and that the public will not be put at risk”.

He said this new plan submitted by Shell and partners last year was the “most suitable, the shortest and the most obvious route for this development”.

The route involves constructing a 4.2m-wide tunnel in Sruwaddacon estuary for a pipe carrying high pressure raw gas from the landfall at Glengad. The final section will run overland to the gas terminal already completed at Ballinaboy.

The offshore pipeline has already been laid.

Sruwaddacon estuary is a special area of conservation (SAC), running between the communities of Rossport, Pollathomas, Glengad and Aughoose. Among the groups which made submissions to Bord Pleanála on health and safety issues was the local national school at Pollathomas

Mr Nolan said the development was a “major project by any measure”, but the modifications proposed would have a “remarkably light impact on the pristine environment of the area”.

A previous application submitted by Shell and Corrib gas partners was rejected by Bord Pleanála as half of it was deemed unacceptable on safety grounds due to proximity to housing.

Mr Nolan said the board’s decision to “adopt a consequence based routing distance was a key driver” which “provided the impetus for Shell to moderate the consequence of a gas release” from the pipeline.

“Corrib will, I have no doubt, provide impetus for future expansion of the natural gas network in Ireland and I expect it will provide impetus for additional exploration off the coast,” Mr Nolan said. “Corrib will in my view provide opportunity for Mayo in particular to develop as a new energy producing centre.”

However, he said that new momentum was required to “engage the local community and to ensure the benefits of the scheme are developed and harnessed locally”.

He has recommended that an €8.5 million “community gain investment fund” be paid over five years by Shell and partners, which would be held in trust by Mayo County Council.

He said he believed this fund would “provide a strong enabling community gain which can be developed with leadership at every level into a long term economic and social stimulus for the area locally, but regionally as well”.

He praised Government policy on developing gas energy, but said that “further strategic planning” was required if “the depths of controversy and conflict seen in the Corrib scheme are to be avoided in future”.

“Standards, strategic development sites, strategic corridors, clear process requirements for all consents, open procedures for decision making, transparency in presentation of projects” were areas which had “led to the depth of conflict and controversy seen in the Corrib scheme”, Mr Nolan said.

Irish Times – LORNA SIGGINS, Western Correspondent

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