By Iain Gray
PART of beachfront Holywood is to be dug up to extend sewage tanks in the area.
Newly filed plans from Northern Ireland Water will see underground processing works next to Farmhill Bay Beach excavated to boost the system’s overflow capacity.
The wastewater pumping station is built under land close to Victorian listed buildings at Clanbrassil Terrace, and partially under a section of the North Down Coastal Path that runs alongside the beach.
NI Water says the work will allow the area’s sewerage system to better handle high demand and prevent waste from overflowing into the sea.
The six-week construction process will likely be restricted to 8am to 6pm on Monday through Friday as well as Saturday mornings only.
Environmental officials state that noise from building work would unfairly impact Clanbrassil Terrace residents during those hours.
Documents filed by NI Water with its planning application state that building a larger underground tank will help prevent ‘emergency discharge’ into the sea.
Additional filters to be added in alongside the new tank will mean that solid matter can be blocked from moving when emergency discharges do occur.
A small grass verge conceals the current pumping station; NI Water states that the verge will be rebuilt once construction is complete, and the end result won’t be significantly different to its look now.
The water firm is to build what it describes as a ‘construction compound’ while work is going on, which will also involve creating a temporary path for pedestrians.
Planning consultants state the compound will ‘ensure that all works are contained within the site, whilst also protecting accessibility for users of the surrounding open space area and coastal path’.
Add the consultants: “Following completion of the works the original path will be reinstated and the temporary path removed. Both temporary and reinstated paths will be finished to blend in with existing paths.”
The plans are still at a very early stage and construction likely won’t take place until next year at the earliest.
