finnebrogue, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.
Pictured are Finnebrogue resident, Mr John Peacocke (left), with Patrick Gregg of the Woodland Trust and Cllr Cadogan Enright, near the venison processing plant.
Down Councillor Cadogan Enright has said that he is in total support of the residents of the Finnebrogue estate who oppose the granting of retrospective planning permission for the controversial venison plant.
Cadogan Enright said, “The people of Finnebrogue have consistently opposed this venison factory as inappropriate and out of sync with the surrounding area and the Planning Appeals Tribunal agreed with them unanimously. I totally support their position and find it amazing that the Environment and Heritage Service has opposed this building for years and then recently had a u-turn decision and now supports it.”
“This area is an AONB, in the Green Belt, a regulated Historic Estate and the development is within the curtilage of several listed buildings. The Down Business Park less than a Mile away would have been the right answer for this project.”
Cadogan said “Myself and Jim Wells MLA attended the EHS offices in Belfast on Friday to explore why they and the planning department have flip-flopped on this issue, and want to know where the pressure for change is coming from. We had no satisfactory answer. The planning service is now expected to fall in line and grant retrospective planning permission, handing a green card to all developers who wish to walk over the rules, however we will be pursuing this further.”
Cllr Enright continued, “Not only is the plant itself a blight on the landscape, but the management of the deer is also causing catastrophic damage to this old estate. Too may deer are being held in a condensed conditions, leading to loss of trees and severe ground water pollution which is feeding into the Quoile. The venison operation needs to be scaled down and properly managed to avoid environmental destruction.”
Cadogan Enright said, “I understand that many people will see this as an economic boost for the area, but the disregard for planning laws and negative impact on the environment cannot be swept aside in favour of jobs which would still exist if the plant were sited in, more suitable premises e.g. the Down Business Park”.
Press Cuttings: Concerns over Finnebrogue