An Irish Planning Students Blog

DEVELOPING THE regions will benefit all sectors of the economy and should not be viewed as an isolated or sectoral issue, a Western Development Commission (WDC) report states.

The full potential of the State’s less developed regions is not being realised, leading to a “waste of talent and opportunity”, according to the commission study, which is due to be published tomorrow.

It recommends that an “identifiable single figure at national level” is required to implement an effective co-ordinating role in regional development.

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I’m not entirely convinced of the merits of doing this, but there is one thing for certain the EIS attached to this application will be one mammoth document. Surely fixing all the leaky old pipes in the city could buy some more time so that a solution closer to the city could be formulated. We shall have to wait and see.

DUBLIN CITY Council is to seek approval next week for a plan to pump 350 million litres of water per day from the river Shannon to serve the capital’s drinking water needs for the next 70 years.

Councillors will be asked by the city manager to endorse the scheme, – which will cost about €500 million – and are expected to do so, before seeking Government approval and permission from An Bord Pleanála. However, it does not require the permission of any local authority in the Shannon region.

The proposal was one of several options put forward in a 2006 report commissioned by the council from consultant engineers RPS to meet the Dublin region’s ever-growing demands for water.

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STATE-OWNED energy group Bord na Móna has received planning permission from Offaly County Council for a €120 million wind farm at its peat production site in Mountlucas in the county.

The proposed development forms part of Bord na Móna’s long-term strategy to develop a portfolio of generating assets, including wind farms and a complementary flexible thermal plant.

The Mountlucas wind farm will have a generating capacity of 80 megawatts and will be capable of supplying power to up to 45,000 homes.

An application for connection of the wind farm to the national grid has been made to EirGrid.

It is scheduled to get an offer for connection to the system in early 2011.

The wind farm will comprise 32 wind turbines, access trackways, crane hard-standings, underground cables between the turbines and a 110kV electricity substation.

It is expected that the construction of the wind farm will take place over 18 to 24 months and will involve 30 workers employed on the project at peak.

Bord Na Móna said the wind farm would reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 125,000 tonnes each year.

The State-owned company has been involved in milled peat production operations at the Offaly site since the 1950s and peripheral parts of the bog are still used for this purpose. Those areas of the site that are still in active peat production will not be affected by the development of the wind farm, the company said.

The Government has set a target of 40 per cent of power generation from renewable sources by 2020

IrishTimes

Only time will tell as to whether this is true or not…

FORTY major road projects and key rail and Luas projects have been scrapped because there is no money to build them.

Nine new motorway rest areas planned for the M7 (Limerick), M8 (Cork), M9 (Waterford), M3 (Cavan) and N11 (Wexford) have also been mothballed by the Government, an Irish Independent investigation has found. The National Roads Authority (NRA) has run out of money to build the 40 roads, which include bypasses and dual carriageways.

It has been “directed” by the Government not to build the remaining rest areas along motorways, sources revealed.

The axed projects will be confirmed in a government mid-term review of the National Development Plan (NDP), which is expected to be completed within weeks. (more…)

NEW MEASURES to reduce the risk of flooding in Cork city could be in place within 18 months, according to Cork city manager Joe Gavin, following confirmation that the OPW is to appoint consultants to oversee the project.

Mr Gavin confirmed the OPW had opted for localised flood defences on the Lee upstream of Cork city which would allow the ESB to discharge higher volumes of water from Inniscarra dam without causing flooding in the city centre.

He said the proposal, which involves localised work and changes to the ESB operating regime, was less costly and more easily implemented than another proposal which involved building tidal barriers and raising quay walls which would cost €145 million and take several years.

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INCHICORE RESIDENTS have given a guarded welcome to a decision to drop plans to assemble and launch a tunnel boring machine for Dart Underground on a sports field in the historic Railway Estate.

According to an application for a Railway Order lodged with An Bord Pleanála yesterday, tunnelling for Dart Underground is now to take place from east to west, with the tunnel boring machine launch site now located at East Wall near Docklands station.

In addition, the Inchicore portal has been moved several hundred yards away from houses and is now to be located within the CIÉ engineering yards. Houses in the Railway Estate date from the mid-1800s and were built for railway workers, including those working in the yards.

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Today the 30th of June 2010 is the day that the Luas Line BXD, Stephens green to Broomsbridge website goes live. All the documents pertaining to the railway order are available freely at: www.dublinluasbroombridge.ie It is also the day that CIE have lodged their plans for the Dublin DART interconnector to link the Kildare Line and with Docklands opening up northern rail service to the south. Document’s for this railway order can be viewed at: www.dartundergroundrailwayorder.ie/ (more…)

I was reading the MetroHearald today on the bus and i noticed a public notice on page 11. I have scanned in a copy of the notice below for your viewing pleasure. (Click for full size) I hope the process is a speedy one. Public consultation starts on the 30th of June (next Wednesday). It will be great to see trams on O’Connell Street once again!

An Bord Pleanála has today refused the Dublin Port Company permission to implement an expansion plan for the port.

The company had applied to develop additional facilities with access to deepwater berths at the north eastern part of Dublin Port, off Alexandra Road through infilling some 95 acres.

The controversial plans had attracted more than 100 objections, including one from Dublin City Council calling them “premature”.

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Got a little side tracked after exams sitting around on my ass watching TV, so in the spirit of watching way too many hours of news channels I actually learned something about smart grids from Euronews and there shell sponsored comment programme, commentvisions

Read below the line for the link to the video

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