Asphalt Plant Proposal (written by a young TY student)
CraicOn Muff is delighted to have a young local Transition Year student from Crana College carry out some work experience here. He will be writing a weekly blog-post here over the coming months. This week he writes about something he himself feels very strongly about. And something which is very much to the fore in our village area at present – the proposed development of an Asphalt Plant nearby.
Asphalt Plant Proposal
An asphalt plant is planned to be built in Gortnaskea, Burnfoot along the R239 regional road, the main road that connects Muff to Burnfoot. I live really close to the planned site and as with others round here we are worried that the plant will go ahead. Asphalt plants are known to be detrimental to health and nature in the surrounding area and that is why some of the local community are rallying together and South Inishowen Against Asphalt Plant was created to object to it. The plant’s developers have proposed the opening hours to be 5:30 AM to 8:00 PM from Monday to Friday and 5:30 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. This would result in noise from the very early stages of the day and last until late in the evening.
I, myself, am worried that it would create a negative effect in the area and destroy the atmosphere that attracts and keeps people here. Not only Donegal but Ireland as a whole is meant to be known as a country full of nature and scenery. I don’t mean no industry at all, just the fact that they want it in such an area when I’m sure there are areas better suited for industrial plants away from residential spots and nature. Not only will the natural scenery be destroyed but the habitats in them, even the animals that live in the Wild Ireland animal sanctuary which is close by will be impacted and the Whiteoaks organic farming too. Overall it is pretty obvious that the plant would bring little to no benefits in the long run for the local community and would ruin the area for generations. The current deadline to object is now until the 6th of October 2020 so if you want to help and object to this, please email [email protected] and together we can prevent it from happening.
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Anyone wishing to obtain more information on this proposal can join an online social media group on Facebook, South Inishowen Against Asphalt Plant.
GMcC