Development of towns in Tipperary being 'hindered' by lack of investment by Uisce Éireann
There are "significant" issues at the wastewater plant in Tipperary Town, the meeting heard
"Significant" issues with the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant in one Tipperary town is hampering development of the town, a council meeting has heard.
Councillors in the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District raised the issue of the drafting of a local area plan for Tipperary Town, and what was holding the plan up.
The issue was raised by Sinn Féin councillor Annemarie Ryan-Shiner, who was seeking an update on the drafting of the local area plan (LAP) for Tipperary Town, saying that the process started last summer, but has since stalled.
Cllr Ryan-Shiner was told that there are "significant" issues around capacity of the wastewater treatment plant that serves Tipperary Town, which also has a knock-on effect on other infrastructure projects in the town.
"There are significant issues in relation to the capacity of the wastewater treatment plant in Tipperary Town, and that has implications on the overall infrastructure availability and the land use zoning that we would use for the town," the meeting was told by a representative from the forward planning section in Tipperary County Council.
"We are continuing to engage with Uisce Éireann on that issue, we had some meetings earlier this year, and they have indicated that there may be some capacity available, but we're continuing to engage with them," the representative said.
Cllr Máirín McGrath also raised her frustrations with Uisce Éireann, saying that the utility's lack of investment is hindering development in towns across Tipperary.
"We are being hindered, we can be the forward planners here, but we are constantly being hindered by the OPR (Office of the Planning Regulator), who are meant to be the know-it-alls, but they're really just pulling us back, and Uisce Éireann, and their lack of infrastructure and the lack of funding and forward planning in tandem with our plans," Cllr McGrath hit out.
"We are the council and we are being hindered by Uisce Éireann and their lack of ability to provide infrastructure, and that's the long and the short of it, it's just beyond belief, we have it in Tipp Town as the councillors here said, we have it in Cahir and we have it in Cashel too, and every other village with no wastewater treatment plant," Cllr McGrath said.
The meeting was also told that there has been no specific commitment given by Uisce Éireann that they will invest in Tipperary Town, but that they will continue to investigate the register of capacities that they have, but that the wastewater treatment plant is not on Uisce Éireann's funding plan, which is set out for the next five years.
"What they have committed to doing is investigating the loading on the wastewater treatment plant within Tipperary Town, and part of that is understanding where the loading is coming from, how there might be some capacity released, is it possible to have capacity released, and if so, how we can develop our local area plans on top of that," the council's forward planning section said.