Minister suspends funding for reservoir

A row over a plan to build a reservoir on Roadstone land near Blessington worsened at the weekend when Minister for the Environment Dick Roche suspended funding for the project.

Earlier this month Mr Roche said he was amazed that there was a plan to buy land from Roadstone at Glen Ding because of the company's controversial planning history, including the discovery of illegal dumps on its Blessington lands.

Mr Roche wrote to Wicklow county manager Eddie Sheehy expressing his concerns but director of services Michael Nicholson replied that the council had told Mr Roche of the plan as far back as September 2003.

Last week Mr Nicholson said the Roadstone site had been chosen by independent consultants and the people of Blessington were entitled to the best site available. As far as the council was concerned approval had been granted by the Department of the Environment in 2004.

However, Mr Roche said at the weekend he was suspending approval for the scheme. The 2003 reference "related to a one-line remark on page 57 of a preliminary report, in a highly technical document" when he was minister of state, which he claimed "did not amount to being informed of a proposal to spend significant amounts of taxpayers' money".

He said he was at a loss to understand "the council's insistence in dealing with Roadstone" when an alternative location for the reservoir, west of Russborough House, was cheaper in terms of capital and operating costs.

Council members were never formally told of the various options although their approval would have been required before the Glen Ding scheme could start.

Mr Roche has now called for information on all the options available to be put to councillors before they are asked to endorse a scheme. He has told the county manager that any recommendation from management must have the backing of the councillors.

A spokesman for Roadstone said the company would not be commenting on the row. The council said Mr Nicholson was the only official who could comment, but he was not available at the time of going to press.

The village of Blessington and a large number of new houses will be connected to the new water scheme. Locals fear contamination in wells from waste remaining in illegal dumps on Roadstone's land.

However, environmental im- pact assessments commissioned by the company say the waste is not leaking into local wells.The company was also criticised recently because the Blessington inner relief road, which was to have eased severe traffic congestion in the town, has not been completed, again because of an illegal dump on Roadstone lands.

The relief road was to have provided a link between the Blessington to Naas road and the N81 north of the town, but the discovery of an illegal dump to the rear of the Woodleigh housing estate has prevented its completion.