LittleLamb
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Thanks for your replies, much appreciated. Thought I would just post up my findings for future reference if anyone else is wondering about these things.
So in the assessment of Retail Impact there are generally 6 steps
- Identification of catchment/study area
- Estimate expenditure available in catchment area
- Estimate turnover of the existing centres within the catchment area which are likely to be affected by a new development
- Estimate the turnover of the new development
- Estimate quantum of consumer retail spending available in catchment which will be diverted from existing centres to the new retail development (normally highlights diversion of expenditure by zone in catchment area)
- Aggregation of zonal diversions from each centre to the new development to provide an estimate of trade diversion, this is then expressed as a proportion of the centre’s turnover at the target year to provide a measure of impact
Then for EIS the structure is generally as follows;
Should include info for;
- Proposed development
- Existing environment
- Impacts of proposed development
- Measures to mitigate adverse impacts
- Non-technical summary
The existing environment & the impacts of the development should be explained by reference to the possible impact on
- Human beings
- Fauna & Flora
- Soil
- Water
- Air
- Climatic factors
- The landscape
- Material assets, including architecture, archaeology, heritage & cultural heritage
- Inter-relationship between the above factors
The impacts should address direct, indirect, secondary, cumulative, short/medium&long-term, permanent, temporary, positive& negative effects as well as impact interactions.
All pretty obvious but good to have in list form :p
To be honest I am not a great supporter of nuclear…especially because it will not last us much longer than oil and the negative aspects of it almost make it even less appealing. I dont think slating tv presenters and famous spouses is very constructive in this argument:rolleyes:
Just a point I have been thinking about re energy in Ireland…I am going to generalise here to make my point….farmers in Ireland are selling off sites because farming has become uneconomic with cheaper imports and higher cost of produce in Ireland, and development has become the new industry to be in….why not give grants to farmers to keep their sites and to produce crops, e.g. elephant grass, rapeseed etc which would contribute to the power grid&sustainable energy…in that way the countryside is preserved and the farmers can make a living without selling off their land? ok, so I know there are a huge amount of details to be sorted out in this idea, e.g. non-native species introduced to ireland, how to get the power onto the grid, will there be enough power produced to make any impact, how to avoid another CAP scenario…so consider this idea open for discussion 🙂I am not certain of the answer to this but I believe that you need planning permission for a sewage treatment system as I have seen planning being applied for before for septic tanks etc.
Have you been in touch with the planning department in your local authority to ask them these questions? I would be interested to hear the answer.Please, if you do decide to go ahead with this development and go for planning permission, try to incorporate the old cottage into the new development. Although I havent seen the site or the cottage, I imagine what is there sits more comfortably in the landscape than more ‘modern’ one-off houses…be they hacienda style bungalows or massive ‘mc mansions’!! With the help of a QUALIFIED architect you could probably create something really beautiful for yourself and also more acceptable to the planning authority…although I don’t have much experience with Meath CoCo. Remember, design and siting are two issues which should be top priority if you do go ahead and buy a piece or rural Ireland for yourself 🙂
If you can could you describe the cottage on site, I would be interested in hearing about it.Here’s a link to an example in Galway
Very interesting topic:) I am wondering the Eco-House that Century Homes are selling, is it a passive house? I believe the Scandinavians do passive housing extremely well.
One-third of Irish rivers and lakes polluted
LOCAL authorities are being ordered to restrict housing development to halt the alarming pollution of our once pristine rivers and lakes.
More than a third of rivers and lakes are now polluted, mainly from farms, a damning report reveals today.
Polluting council sewage plants and septic tanks of one-off houses in the countryside are also slammed in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water report.
It lifts the lid on the full extent of the pollution, which also affects drinking water, and the inaction of many local authorities in tackling the crisis.
A total of 36.6pc of rivers and lakes are polluted by phosphorus which is blamed on agricultural activities and sewage discharges. Almost 100 out of 496 lakes were polluted with phosphorus alone.
Trend
A worrying trend highlighted in the annual EPA water quality report on phosphorus pollution is the number of rivers of highest biological water quality which have declined.
Counties with the highest number of polluted lakes which did not comply with new regulations on phosphorus included Monaghan (31), Cavan (14), Clare (14), Leitrim (9), Cork (7) and Longford (6).
Only 63.4 pc of lakes and rivers which were investigated by the agency were not polluted with phosphorus which kills fish, a slight increase on a previous report. Three quarters of our drinking water is abstracted from rivers and lakes.
Agricultural sources nationwide are slammed as the major cause of pollution. Yet only 11 local authorities had carried out any significant survey of farms between 2002-2004 and the EPA demands that councils should carry out farm inspections, control septic tanks and identify ‘hot spots.’
Facilities
Only 17pc of council sewage plants discharging effluent into freshwaters had facilities to extract the deadly phosphorus and nitrates pollution.
The report also highlights the overloading of these plants and their poor performance and frequent storm water overflows causing pollution.
A number of local authorities had also revealed that the septic tanks of many single houses in the countryside were not installed or properly maintained. These septic tanks were causing major water pollution, said the EPA report.
Despite the implementation of local authority measures under the regulations the EPA investigation found that “national water quality has not yet significantly improved”.
“Significantly increased efforts will be required to meet the water quality targets,” the report adds.
Tracey Hogan
© Irish IndependentDid anyone see this in today’s Indo? I think it gives justification to a lot of the submissions and appeals taken by An Taisce as in the majority of cases their arguments are based on the fact that a development is going to pollute groundwater/lake/river.
I wonder if these new figures will slow down the ‘free-for all’ planning system that seems to be in operation in some places?:rolleyes:
