Bremore port warehousing to be moved to Meath

lostexpectation

A major change in planning for the new €300 million port at Bremore in north Co Dublin will result in large parts of the infrastructure for the port being transferred from Fingal into County Meath because of the presence of important archaeological monuments on the original site, the Meath Chronicle has learned.

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/articles/1/34641

A reliable source told the Meath Chronicle yesterday: “You can take it that the original site for the very large amount of infrastructure required for a port of this size is no longer under consideration. This will be a commercial decision made by the port company itself and will not be imposed by anyone else. It will be taken on the basis that the passage tomb cemetery will remain untouched, and will not be surrounded by industrial and logistical development.”

the port had a number of phases, i presume this is phase one which is being removed and reduced, i wonder what advantages meath cc is giving them?

i don't see how they can avoid substantial damage to the archaeology while putting a port there at all...

mockup
http://www.newheartfordublin.ie/downloads/bremore_deepwater_port.jpg

im not sure people in the balbriggan were totally happy about it either
http://www.fingal-independent.ie/news/port-plans-may-leave-balbriggan-in-shadows-1512947.html


arch
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/1106/bremore.html
http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/news/expert-lashes-bremore-port-location-1400894.html
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0702/nationwide_av.html?2394467,null,228
map
http://dublinstreams.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-move-dublin-port-to-bremorelayers.html firefox

a link to the brochure but can't get it working to day
http://www.droghedaport.ie/cms/uploads/30_9_04.pdf

Bluetonic

The same source said that while the deepwater facility would be located offshore from Bremore, the logistical structures would be shifted across the border into Meath but would would not be located as far north as the former Irish Air Corps base at Gormanston.

Thats the key.

I'll believe all this when I see it though.

Great to see the OPW put up National Monument signs on the site recently.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0702/nationwide.html

lostexpectation

http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/news/bremore-port-1876002.html

Wednesday September 02 2009

PROPOSALS for the alterations of the harbour Limits of Drogheda Port Company, regarding new additions to the proposed new Deep-Water Port at Bremore in Fingal, are on view at the Superintendents Office at the Drogheda Garda Station and may be viewed by the general public until Wednesday September 9th next.

The application proposals make for some interesting reading on the future of the Bremore and Gormanston area including that of the Army military base and there are a number of interested parties and individual who are raising questions to the proposals including why the application is being kept at Drogheda Garda Station and not in a public library or local planning office?

People who have gone into the Garda Station to consult the application have been informed by the Gardai that the file may not be copied or photographed and must be viewed in the presence of the Gardai and that you must sign your name to a register which will be passed on to the Drogheda Port Company after the consultation period has ended, yet it is for 'public consultation'for observations and submissions to be made by September 9th to a Mr. Garret Doocey, Maritime Transport Division, Department of Transport, Leeson Lane Dublin 2.

what the hell are they up to

Bluetonic

Port threat to passage tombs

FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor

AN TAISCE has warned that the proposed deepwater port at Bremore, north Co Dublin, could threaten an archaeological complex of passage tombs even older than Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley.

The environmental trust was commenting yesterday on plans by Drogheda Port to extend its boundary southwards so as to incorporate Bremore for development of the deepwater port in partnership with Treasury Holdings.

An Taisce said it had ascertained that the proposed alteration of the Drogheda Port Company’s area of control is to facilitate the construction of a new deepwater port at Bremore to cater for vessels up to 250 metres.

Saying it was opposed to this development, the trust complained no environmental assessment of its effects has been made available, and thus there could be no proper public consultation, as required under EU law.

It pointed out that the river Nanny estuary is an EU-designated nature conservation site – a special protected area under the birds directive and a candidate for special area of conservation under the habitats directive.

The foreshore and associated sand dunes is home to many species of concern. According to a Foras Forbartha report (1972), the Helix Pisana is a “species that is only found on the Irish coast between south Co Louth and north Co Dublin”.

An Taisce said the archaeological profile of the Bremore area was particularly significant, as it included the legally-protected Bremore Passage Tomb Cemetery as well as elements of the Gormanston Passage Tomb Cemetery.

Archaeologist Dr Mark Clinton, chairman of An Taisce’s national monuments and antiquities committee, said one mound had an entrance orientation indicating the possibility that it was aligned with the summer solstice.

“In this regard, and given their morphology and geographical location, there’s every possibility the builders were the near ancestors of those that built the nearby world-acclaimed tombs of Brú na Bóinne [the Boyne Valley tombs].” Dr Clinton said the two cemetery complexes proposed to be incorporated by Drogheda Port under the 2009 Harbours Act “must be considered within the greater context of other passage tombs nearby at Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange”.

“Hence we believe it is far more appropriate that the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne would be extended to include the Bremore-Gormanston complexes rather than their obliteration as a result of an ‘extension’ for ‘development’ of Drogheda Port.”

An Taisce highlighted a potential loss of public amenities, noting that Gormanston lies at the southern end of a “renowned stretch of sandy beaches.

Notice of the Bremore extension plan is available for public inspection only in the Superintendent’s office at Drogheda Garda Station. The deadline for submissions and objections is September 8th. All submissions should be sent to Garret Doocey, Maritime Transport Division, Department of Transport, Dublin 2; email garret.doocey@transport.ie.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0902/1224253663259.html

Bremore no replacement for Dublin Port, says town planner

TIM O'BRIEN

A PROPOSAL that Dublin Port divert its container services to a new deep-water port at Bremore in north Co Dublin, as opposed to infilling 52 acres of Dublin Bay, was based on the misconception that a port at Bremore actually exists, An Bord Pleanála was told yesterday.

Addressing a planning inquiry into Dublin Port Company’s plans for the infill in Dublin Bay, architect and town planner Terry Durney said the choice of Bremore on the north Dublin coast was significantly inferior to Dublin Port.

The switching of Dublin Port traffic to Bremore either in its entirety or simply as a move to add extra capacity has been suggested by a number of opponents of the infill proposal. But according to Mr Durney, Bremore was not a natural harbour and would require large-scale engineering works, and even then he claimed it had been suggested the port “could be vulnerable in northeasterly winds in the same way that Rosslare is”.

Mr Durney maintained concerns had also arisen about the archaeology of the north Co Dublin/east Meath coastal region and he pointed out that Bremore headland is the location of several unexcavated Neolithic burial sites protected by the Fingal Development Plan.

He also said another issue was the visual impact of the Bremore development “in an area of pristine plain and coastal landscape”. Other aspects which he said needed to be considered included the absence of road infrastructure in the area, particularly a road link to the M1 motorway.

He also mentioned the absence of a rail connection. Mr Durney said the Dublin Bay infill proposal was “the best option in environmental and operational terms”.

Dublin Port already had a good connection to the M1 and M50 motorways and was “at the hub of the railway system and is strategically placed to offer connectivity to a more sustainable form of transport that is likely to increase in future years”.

Mr Durney also said Dublin was the most suitable site for an expansion of the State’s unitised container handling capacity

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0905/1224253908098.html

meditraitor

http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2009-11-05.1138.0

Thursday, 5 November 2009
10:00 am

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

Question 47: To ask the Minister for Transport the position regarding the development of Bremore Port, County Meath; if he has reviewed the recent viewing arrangements for key planning applications at Bremore; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39551/09]

Noel Dempsey (Minister, Department of Transport; Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Drogheda Port Company, together with their partners Castlemarket Holdings, are continuing to progress their plans to develop a deepwater port facility at Bremore.

I understand that pre-planning consultations have taken place with An Bord Pleanála. However, to date no planning application has been lodged in respect of the development.
In July this year, Drogheda Port Company made an application to me for a ministerial order to extend the company’s harbour limits to the area around the Bremore site.

A public consultation with respect of such orders is not a statutory requirement. However, public consultation was carried out prior to a previous alteration of the company’s harbour limits in 2004 and the company conducted a similar consultation in this instance.

This is not a planning application and any order made has no consequence in terms of planning legislation.

The consultation period concluded on 9 September and the documentation has now been returned to me with a confirmation from the Gardaí that it was on public display from 19 August for a period of 21 days.

I have received a number of submissions in response to the consultation and am in the process of considering these before making my decision regarding the order

And hopefully never will

Bluetonic

meditraitor wrote: »

And hopefully never will

Here, here.

Bluetonic

This won't be a deep water if build at Gormo.

Anything that puts doubt in this project going ahead is good though.

Port developers anxious to avoid ‘very significant’ neolithic complex, writes FRANK MACDONALD , Environment Editor

A PROPOSED deepwater container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin may be moved farther north to Gormanston, Co Meath, to avoid encroaching on a neolithic complex of passage tombs.

A spokesman for Treasury Holdings, which is planning to develop the new facility in partnership with Drogheda Port, confirmed yesterday that one of the options now being considered was to “shift it off Bremore headland” for archaeological reasons.

He said it had become clear at an early stage that the neolithic complex at Bremore was “very significant”, and the developers would be anxious to avoid it by examining alternative locations, such as Gormanston.

However, no final decision has been taken.

One of the constraints is that the Gormanston site is partly covered by an EU-designated special protection area (SPA) for wild birds.

It is also believed to contain another archaeological complex, though this is not thought to be as significant as the one located at Bremore.

“We’ve done a significant amount of preliminary work, including archaeological investigations by Margaret Gowen and Company,” the spokesman said, adding that Treasury would now be taking on an environmental specialist to assess the Gormanston option.

Treasury acquired options to purchase several landholdings at Bremore before entering into partnership with Drogheda Port, but it is understood the company holds none for Gormanston.

Land in the area would be cheaper to acquire now due to the property crash.

“We now have to work through the environmental issues as well as the cultural heritage and archaeological issues,” the spokesman said.

He added that Treasury and its partners would be consulting with “all the various interests”, such as An Taisce, which it has met already.

It is likely to be autumn before a firmer proposal will be put out for consultation.

“Ireland needs a deepwater port; the IDA (Industrial Development Authority) is conscious that we are losing projects because we don’t have one,” according to the spokesman.

An Taisce’s monuments and antiquities committee has warned that any port development at Bremore would “completely obliterate a passage tomb cemetery of neolithic date with affinities to Newgrange and a mid-16th century historic harbour site”.

Commenting on the possibility that it could be relocated to Gormanston, committee chairman Dr Mark Clinton said it would be likely to affect a sandy beach “most beloved in the locality” and shoreline that forms part of the river Nanny SPA.

Any such plan would require a full assessment of its environmental effects to be prepared and placed before the public prior to being approved.

“It would appear that the exact opposite of these legal requirements is in motion,” Dr Clinton said.

He also queried the need for a new port, noting that throughput at Drogheda Port had fallen by 50 per cent in 2008, according to its most recent set of accounts, while business at Dublin Port was down by 10 per cent.

“There is no need for a new deepwater port,” he said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0223/1224265036102.html

expectationlost

“We’ve done a significant amount of preliminary work, including archaeological investigations by Margaret Gowen and Company

and when are the public going to see this ?

what else have they found, will these industrial archaeologist damage more sites before the public find out?

these things can continue even if the progress of the port is slowed or moved.

doesn't make any sense to me, their USP was that it was to be deeper for the biggest ships, can they build and dredge enough depth off gormanstown, was the headland of bremore, giving more depth to a potential port there. of course then wanted to stretch the port from bremore head to cardy rocks, doe such rocks exist off gormanstown?

noises about it moving is as a vague and likely to to be red herring as anything about this.