Lack of capacity at Tipperary wastewater treatment plants holding up housing developments
Issues with wastewater treatment plants across Tipperary are delaying much-needed housing from being built, according to a local councillor.
At the July meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District, independent councillor Joe Hannigan raised the issue of capacity at wastewater treatment plants across the north of the county, saying that lack of capacity is holding rural villages and towns back from being able to grow.
Speaking to the Irish Independent after the meeting, Cllr Hannigan said that he was aware of a number of housing developments that have now been stalled at various stages because they can’t get connected to wastewater treatment plants.
"In some villages, there’s no capacity left, like Cloughjordan, you can’t build a house in Cloughjordan at the minute because the wastewater treatment plant is at capacity, Ballycommon is the same way, Silvermines is the same way, and a lot of them are nearly at capacity as well,” Cllr Hannigan explained.
In the last number of months, a major upgrade of the Nenagh wastewater treatment plant has been announced, at a cost of €23million. This will enable new connections to the plant in the north Tipperary town, which is at capacity, and allow for the town to further grow and expand.
"It’s great that Nenagh got the planning permission and we welcome the investment of €23million into Nenagh, but we’re saying that if the other villages don’t get investment in their plants, we can’t build in those villages.
"In Ballycommon for instance, there was planning permission granted for 10 houses in the village on the basis that they were going to get a connection to the sewage, but that connection to the sewage didn’t materialise. There’s a year left on that planning permission now, and the developer is rightly caught because he had planning permission got, he’s a year left on it, and he can’t build the houses because he hasn’t got a connection,” Cllr Hannigan said.
"There’s another guy in the village who went in for a pre-connection inquiry to Uisce Éireann for 19 houses, and Uisce Éireann basically said ‘sorry, we don’t have the capacity in the plant to grant you a connection’ so his planning application can’t go any further, and there was another guy who wanted to build four houses in Ballycommon”.
Cllr Hannigan said that he knows of a total of 34 houses in the village of Ballycommon alone that are in the pipeline, but that can’t either get planning permission, or can’t get started on building works because of the lack of capacity at the village’s wastewater treatment plant.
Uisce Éireann need to look at developing and upgrading wastewater treatment plants across Tipperary, Cllr Hannigan said, allowing people to build in rural towns and villages across the county.
"The resources aren’t there in Uisce Éireann is what I’ve gathered, that’s the answer we’re getting back,” Cllr Hannigan said.
"Cloughjordan has some sort of an indication that there will be resources provided for it, but it’s a long way down the line,” the independent councillor added.
The Irish Independent has contacted Uisce Éireann for comment.