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The
Oral hearing into the proposed bypass and river crossing at
Waterford continued at Dooley's hotel today. Peter Sweetman
(Planning Consultant) represented CaST.
At
the end of three days of hearings, the NRA team has called six witnesses, three roads engineers, a noise expert,
a microclimate expert and an
ecologist. To date just one witness, the noise expert, has
completed his evidence.
Noise
He
is Patrick Tittmar of F.R. Mark and Associates, Belfast. The
following is our summing up of his evidence:
- In
his contribution to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) he
relied totally on English standards, guidelines and
regulations. These rely on enforcement procedures
supported by statutes that do not exist in Ireland.
- He
failed to assess in any form the noise generated by a toll
plaza.
- He
failed to address the direct effect of noise on the Special Area
of Conservation (SAC). In fact he did not even know the
location of the SAC.
- The
standards that he applied, allowed 20 times more noise energy
than similar standards in countries such as Austria and
Australia.
- These
were the standards he was instructed to apply by the NRA (the
developer)
- Yesterday
he produced evidence stating the 18 hour average noise generated
by the road but despite persistent questioning from Peter
Sweetman, he failed to specify a maximum noise level at any
location.
- Today
after more than 2 hours of questioning by Michael O'Donnell B.L
representing local residents, he admitted that during the
construction phase Mr. O'Donnell's client could be subject to
noise levels of 90 dBs at the rear of his house but with
mitigation measures dependent on the goodwill of the contractor,
these levels might be reduced to 80 dBs. The duration of this
noise would be about 3 years, assuming the project ran to
schedule. It's worth noting that a noise level of 90dBs means
that one has by law to wear ear protectors if exposed to it
for more than 3 hours per day.
- He
also stated that he understood that it would be illegal for any
resident along this road to directly monitor the sound generated
by the road from Council property.
Friday
August 3rd 2001
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