Environmental campaigners claim River Faughan is not being protected

Frustration is growing amongst environmental campaigners in Derry who claim government bodies have failed to protect the River Faughan from pollution despite warnings over 18 years.

Cross-community and voluntary run organisation, River Faughan Anglers (RFA), have taken their cause to the European Commission and United Nations.

The river has been designated a Special Area of Conservation for its international importance to the conservation of Atlantic salmon.

It is also Derry City’s main source of water.

Settlement lagoons at the W&J Chambers site in Drumahoe were constructed to intercept run off water from the manufacturing of concrete products.

Since their construction in 2002, RFA has been raising environmental concerns in respect the lagoons.

While conducting site visits and pollution investigations over the years the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) reported a number of concerns.

In a report seen by the Derry News, NIEA described one of the lagoons as ‘highly contaminated’.

In 2006 NIEA stated, 'seepage from settlement pond noted - banks could burst destroying the river'.

Further notes from 2008 add, ‘water leaking through southern lagoon and evidence of discharge from another lagoon – may suggest walls of lagoon not stable’.

POLLUTION

The Derry News has learned that between 2000 - 2005 eight ‘low severity’ pollution incidents were confirmed at the Drumahoe site.

These details have been corroborated by the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

RFA claims the lagoons have been constructed on a floodplain adjacent to the River Faughan ‘without planning permission and with no environmental assessment of their risk to the River Faughan’.

Along with former Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney, RFA have sounded warnings since 2006.

They say neglect by the planning authority allowed the ‘unauthorised structures’ to become immune from enforcement action.

Planning law in NI, which is being challenged, means that no enforcement action may be taken after the end of a period of four years from when the development was substantially completed.

When W&J Chambers was asked if it is aware of any pollution incidents, Mr Gordon Chambers said: “None of our Lagoons have ever caused pollution in the river, we are carefully monitored by the NIEA.”

On the issue of planning permission, he added: “Yes, I have full planning permission for everything including the lagoons, there are no concerns about the lagoons. 

“If the NIEA instruct myself to do any work/upgrades, it is always done immediately.”

OMBUDSMAN

After an unsuccessful legal challenge in 2013 to have the environmental effects of the lagoons properly assessed, RFA’s concerns have been raised with the European Commission.

Director’s Gerry Quinn and Dean Blackwood have also appeared before the United Nations’ Aarhus Convention’s Compliance Committee in Geneva in 2017 to highlight the inadequacies of Northern Ireland’s environmental justice system.

At the same time that NIEA officials were contending that the lagoons were ‘of robust construction and extremely unlikely to rupture’, RFA reported collapses in August 2017 which exposed ‘serious structural defects’ in the construction of the retaining wall of one lagoon.

RFA says continued neglect by the regulatory authority resulted in a complaint to the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) who published a damning report into NIEA’s handling of this case in March 2020.

NIPSO raised concerns of unethical conduct and oral government against NIEA.

The report recommended that the NIEA Chief Executive ‘apologise for the failings’ identified, in accordance with the NIPSO guidance on apology.

NIEA was also urged to produce a report into the structural integrity of the lagoons and the risks they pose to the River Faughan.

As a result, the Department has since commissioned a leading engineering firm to undertake the examination of the structural integrity of the lagoons.

The report is awaited.

‘INJUSTICE’

Speaking to the Derry News, RFA Director Dean Blackwood said: “This case exposes how planning and environmental regulation in Northern Ireland is systemically failing.

“But worse, the conduct of some officials has destroyed any trust our voluntary-run organisation has in the planning and regulatory authorities to abide by the high standards expected and required of public servants.

“Directors welcome the outcome of the Ombudsman’s investigation as we continue in our quest to right the environmental injustice inflicted on our river by those charged with protecting it.”

The DAERA was asked how these lagoons were allowed to be constructed on a floodplain, why no enforcement action has been taken in over 18 years and to reveal the findings of an engineer who was asked to examine their structural integrity.

The department said there have been no substantiated pollution incidents from the W&J Chambers site at Drumahoe since 2006.

A spokesperson stated: “NIEA is working closely with the site operator in relation to the integrity of the lagoons which have been in place since 2002 and have operated under a range of extreme climatic conditions.

“To assist with this work NIEA has commissioned the services of consulting engineers to provide specialist advice and this work is ongoing.”

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) was contacted well in advance of publication about planning deficiencies that were highlighted but no response was provided.