Archive for the 'Administration' Category

The Transition of the Ashford Weir to Ashford Waterscape!

December 11th, 2017 -- Posted in Active, Administration, Ecology, Fish, Politics | No Comments »

Wonderful news!  The River Vartry Protection Society has been accepted for a project from the National Strategy for Angling Development Fund.  The Ashford Weir has been in a lack of repair since January 2016 and with no champion to look after it.  We all know that the fish are better off without the Weir but it has left an ugly scar on the River Vartry.

Without action and without any future because of the size of the project, we decided to have a practical plan to divide the project into two parts.  The first part is to get the Wicklow County Council to fund removal of the existing concrete and to level and grade the river base according to a Design and Implementation Plan made by the Inland Fisheries Ireland.  The work will be undertaken by the WCC but YOU NEED TO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COUNCILLOR TO GET THE MONEY FROM THE 2018 BUDGET! Wicklow County Council are agreeable to do the work, IFI are agreeable to advise and only we need to “press” our Local Representives to get Phase 1 complete.

The grant is for Phase 2, which will be an Architectural Contest to design an Ashford Waterscape that will eventually be voted for by the public and be constructed here at the Ashford Bridge.  At the same time we will remove Japanese Knotweed, trim the overhanging branches and generally clean up the area where the Weir once stood.  This is to enhance the habitat of the Salmon and angling potential of the River Vartry.

We are so pleased for this opportunity given by the National Strategy for Angling Development Fund 2017 to the River Vartry.

Oral Hearing on River Vartry against Irish Water

May 28th, 2017 -- Posted in Active, Administration, Ecology, Fish, Irish Water, Politics, Threats | No Comments »

We have the Oral Hearing on June 12th, 13th and 14th at the Glenview Hotel, Glen of the Downs (if it takes the full 3 days).

This is very important that we have support on the days to see Irish Water do right by the River Vartry.

We know people work and for many it will be hard to take time off, but even if you can only drop in one of the days, it would be some support. We will be there from 11:00 to 17:00 on the 12th, 9:30 – 17:00 on the 13th and 14th.

We are as prepared as we can be and are very hopeful that An Bord Pleanála will see it our way and send Irish Water back to Wicklow County Council for a full independent EIA. We have a few surprises for them, so don’t miss it.

We want to see the NEW, (not UPGRADED as Irish Water prefer to call it), Water Treatment Plant is built, but want proper care taken of the environment, the river and the salmon. We hope to screen a short film of the River, never before seen, of huge salmon in vast numbers coming up the river for the spawn. It show how important our Mighty Little River Vartry is to the EU, Ireland and ourselves and the importance for us to build a State of the Art WTP showing that in Ireland we take care of our environment, not destroy it.

We hope to see you there.

Freedom of Information launched at Wicklow County Council

December 27th, 2016 -- Posted in Active, Administration, Fish, Politics, River Basin Management, Threats, Water Directive | No Comments »

It is important for us to understand the full inadequacies of the process of Granting permission to Irish Water for the New Roundwood Treatment Works. To do this we have launched a Freedom of Information request for all the details surrounding the Jonathan Sexton report. This should provide some interesting reading. It will be at least 4 weeks until we hear back, especially with the Holiday break of 9 days. When (if) we are given the opportunity for an oral hearing, this material will be provided to An Bord Pleanála.

River Vartry Protection Society Committee Meeting

November 6th, 2009 -- Posted in Active, Administration | No Comments »

We are holding a meeting on the Tuesday the 8th of November of the committee formed on the evening at Hunters. Anyone who would like to take part is welcome to join in and can email me at admin(at)rivervartry.com. We will post minutes of the meeting to everyone.

Draft Wicklow County Plan Meeting

November 6th, 2009 -- Posted in Active, Administration, River Basin Management | No Comments »

An Taisce are organising a public meeting in Roundwood on Monday 16th November at 8pm at the Roundwood Community Hall. They have commissioned an experienced environmental planner to discuss the planning process and the plan. This plan is the umbrella plan for the area and is very lacking in regards to all the Rivers and specifically the Vartry. We need to have a submission drafted that will encourage the Wicklow County Council to discuss Rivers for other purposes than just Drinking Water!
If anyone is interested please do attend and help us draft an observation to this important plan.

River Vartry Protection Society Meeting

October 5th, 2009 -- Posted in Administration | No Comments »

The meeting was a great success and I personally would like to thank all of you for participating. There were over 40 people there, which considering there were a lot of people who had to cancel at the last moment, was a fantastic show of commitment and support.

We talked about a Historical Approach to getting more water in the river and a Scientific Approach towards monitoring and enforcing EU Regulations. This did spark interest and the consensus was to continue to pursue these and increase the effort.

This is a unique body of neighbours which I believe has never been assembled before. The joining of forces of Riparian Owners and Surrounding Neighbours joining together to protect the river. A corridor of safety to the habitat and River which flows though all of our area. The shared Rights and Responsibilities of Riparian Owners were discussed and the basis of this in Common law which can dictate how we would like the River to Remain.

We will be producing a summary of the meeting but in general there were several important points.
There were volunteers to make up a small steering group that will help administrate.
There is a volunteer to help with grants and grant applications who is a professional in this field, and has already reached out to help.
There is a member will be investigating whether there is a University that might be interested in conducting some research for us.