I am intrigued that Road Service are willing to accept building on a flood plain. I expect they're answer might be "That's not our problem or concern" which is the reply we are getting from so many agencies in this saga. So many groups are happy to shuffle away from anything other than their own discipline. Yet all these people are intertwined and interdependent.
Does Planning hold case meetings, like Social Services do, in which all involved - Roads, Water Quality, Rivers, Heritage, Natural History, (to name but a few) sit together around a table and thrash out large projects such as this? At the moment they would appear to rely totally on notes to each other. They call them "response letters".
But I expect the idea of "case meetings" would be deemed as too unwieldy. I wonder if 'video conferencing' has arrived at Coleraine Planning yet?.
And here is how the Developer treats recommendations by the Roads Service - ignores it!
The Decision Notice for the approval by Planning of the temporary site entrance off the Straid Road was issued to the Developer on 23rd June 2004. With one of the provisos from the Roads Service being that ... "The first 20m of temporary access from Straid Rd. to be surfaced with bitumen macadam to prevent mud from being deposited on the public road."
This photo of the temporary entrance was taken 15th January 2005 six months after the Decision Notice was issued.
Enforcement were alerted on 17th August 2004 to this "Failure to comply with a condition of Planning Permission" And they wrote on 15th Feb 2005 (note the six months delay!) to the developer seeking assurance that this breach of the planning regulation be rectified by 15th March 2005
UPDATE As of late March 2005 this entrance has now a thin layer of tar macadam.
Click to see also ....
Traffic survey (Roads Service accepts a one day survey spread over two and half hours, by a consultant supplied by the developer, to determine annual traffic flow)
Layout of roads Contrary to Guidelines
Variety/contrast of roads Contrary to Guidelines
Traffic calming Contrary to Guidelines