Further queries on water treatment plant

Last week NI Water said the plans were only withdrawn to make amendments, but Sinn Fein Councillor Paddy Butcher has now asked that those living in the immediate area are informed of this in writing. Councillor Butcher says that because of the history of the proposed plant, a lot of concerns still exist on the future of the works which is to include a control building, membrane bioreactors, sludge holding tanks and storm balancing tanks.

Cllr Butcher said: "The people of Magilligan were outraged last week when everyone in the parish received a Planning Service notification letter regarding the waste water treatment plant simply saying "the application ...has been withdrawn." No explication was given as to why. We have had years of promises but no action. Last Monday a spokesperson from NI Water Service eventually returned my call to the department and he confirmed that the withdrawal of the planning application did not mean the project was abandoned."

Councillor Butcher continued: "The spokesperson told me that Planning Service had determined the outflow must not be discharged into the Big Drain but into the ocean and that this will require a revised planning application. That is what the local farmers were demanding from the outset. This breakdown in communication caused considerable concern throughout my community."

At last week's Planning and Development Services Committee meeting which Cllr Butcher chairs, he demanded that Limavady Borough Council formally write to NI Water Service and ask them to confirm their position and make a public commitment as to when the 6.8 million project will commence and an indication as to when it will be completed.

"I'm taking nothing for granted until the work is done" concluded Cllr Butcher. "We have heard all these promises before. I want a written commitment from NI Water Service as to when the job will be done."