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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Abstract of Section 3 of the 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 any changes to existing EU legislation on SEA and …

New report on Cap and Share in South Africa

The BRICSA countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are likely to play key roles in deciding the type of climate agreement that follows Kyoto. How likely are they to favour Cap amd Share? Feasta intends to produce studies of the effects that C&S might have on each. The pilot study, of the likely effects on South Africa, has just been completed by Jeremy Wakeford of South African New Economics and can be downloaded here. It will be used as a model for the remaining four reports. …