This article is from page 13 of the 2006-12-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
PROPERTY developers will be forced to carry some of the financial burden in providing sewerage schemes around Clare, it was revealed at Monday’s council meeting.
Responding to a motion put forward by Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind), County Engineer Tom Carey revealed he had been informed by the Department of the Environment that the exchequer is no longer prepared to fund “nonresidential” sewerage schemes.
The definition of “non-residential” properties includes future housing developments as well as commercial properties. The specific details of who will foot the bill for future housing developments is unclear but property developers and Clare County Council will have a role to play in meeting these expenses.
“I’d like to think that my report is more positive than reports in recent times. There has been some significant movement – we have come close enough to starting construction and quite a number of schemes will be underway in 2007. We are starting to catch up but it does appear that some schemes are moving faster than others,” said Mr Carey.
“If there are situation where the affordability issue is a problem and environmental issues demand it, then the costing issue is not set in stone. There are still affordability issues, we are working on them and being as innovative as we can – but they will have to be, to some extent, developer-driven.”
Responding to the new “polluter pays” approach, North Clare councilor, Martin Lafferty (Ind), expressed his disappointment at the unit costings system and commented that he wanted to see “reality on the ground, never mind promising things that never appear”.