Sustainable Development Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Programmes and Projects: Section 3 abstract

Sustainable Development Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Programmes and Projects

Section 3: A sustainability assessment process for road-building and other development in Ireland

Abstract

In this section we propose a sustainability assessment process. To oversee the sustainability assessment process, we recommend the creation of a new office, housed in the EPA, called the Office of Sustainability Assessment. We wish to emphasise that we are not proposing a separate strand of assessment in addition to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), but rather an overall structure within which they would be included. We believe our proposal would not require …

Sustainable Development Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Programmes and Projects

Feasta recently completed a research project for the Irish Environmental Protection Agency to assess the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Statements prepared for major road projects in the past and to devise a better assessment system for future projects from a complete sustainability perspective.…

Two new research projects for Feasta: Carbon Cycles and Sinks, and Smart Taxes

Feasta has been awarded multi-annual funding from the Irish Department of the Environment for two policy research projects:

Carbon Cycles and Sinks – to develop policies which will enable the Irish land mass to become a carbon sink rather than a source of greenhouse emissions. This project will be led by Richard Douthwaite, and Corinna Byrne has been hired as project coordinator and lead researcher.

Smart Taxes – to research, design, develop and adapt fiscal and market-based mechanisms to increase environmental, social and economic sustainability in Ireland. This project will be led by Emer O’Siochru, and Ellie Cuffe has been …

A Study of the Hydrological Sustainability of the Roads Programme in Ireland – Orla Sweeney, Paul Johnston

From the Sustainable Development Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Programmes and Projects

Summary

This work is a study of the Hydrological Sustainability of Road Development in Ireland and was undertaken in association with FEASTA (Foundation for Economic Sustainability), as part of a larger project on the overall sustainability of road development in this country.

The focus of this work is an analysis of the effectiveness of the environmental impact assessment process and its under-lying legislation in protecting the aquatic environment and its dependent ecosystems. In addition to this the overall requirements of the national road development programme in ensuring environmental sustainability, …

The Treatment of Material Assets (Property) in Environmental Impact Statements in Ireland – Lorcan Sirr

From the Sustainable Development Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Programmes and Projects

This Report reviews the ‘Property’ section of the Kildare ByPass, the N6 Galway to East Ballinasloe, and the Lucan Outer Ring Road Phases I and II. The Report finds that property is grossly under-evaluated in these Environmental Impact Statements, and that part of the reason for this is the treatment of property in the Roads Act 1993, and also the lack of use of appropriately qualified personnel to conduct the assessment of property impacts for EISs. This Report makes 12 recommendations for the treatment of property in EISs, based …

Evaluating the Social and Community Impacts of the Outer Ring Road: An Examination of the EIS Report and additional documents – Prof. Kevin Leyden

From the Sustainable Development Evaluation of Road Infrastructure Programmes and Projects

Community Effects: Key Conclusions & Recommendations

  1. The main problem with the EIS “community effects” section is that its conclusions are – on the whole – subjective and speculative. Much of the research presented on community effects appears to be based upon opinion and not science. Even the methodology outlined by the “Environmental Assessment Advice Note from the UK Department of Transport Publication Design Manual for Roads and Bridges Volume 11” is inadequately followed.
  2. More scientifically-based research on likely “community effects” should be conducted. Data and conclusions on the community
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