Proposed Slane Bypass too close to Brú na Bóinne Heritage Sites

George Eogan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at University College Dublin, who performed extensive excavations at the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site opposes the project:

"If this plan goes ahead, it will have a significant impact on the landscape and will result in the World Heritage Site being boxed in between two motorways, the M1 and the M2. Five hundred metres is simply too close, and it is conceivable that Newgrange could lose its World Heritage Status, if this plan goes ahead, like Dresden did last summer. They should simply ban HGVs from the town. There is simply no need to spend all this money or to do all this damage."

Proposed New Road to run close to Newgrange and Knowth

Slane bypass to run close to Boyne heritage sites by Elaine Keogh, The Irish Times - 22nd January 2010.

The National Roads Authority has confirmed that the proposed route of the bypass of Slane village will pass some 500 metres “from the perimeter” of the buffer zone of the Brú na Bóinne UNESCO World Heritage Site. The road, which will be a dual carriageway, will have “the least impact” taking all factors into consideration, including the archaeology and heritage of the area, a spokesman said.

It will be 3.5 kilometres long and run to the east of the village, which is on the heavily used N2 linking Dublin with Derry and it has been the scene of at least 22 fatal traffic crashes in living memory. Included in the scheme is a new bridge over the river Boyne which will be about 200 metres long. The environmental impact statement has been published and submissions on it are being accepted by An Bord Pleanála, which will decide whether to grant permission.

Bypass Slane Campaign group spokeswoman Michelle Power said, “we welcome the plans and look forward to the day permission is granted and funds are allocated for its construction. After numerous fatal accidents human life must take precedence”.

Brian Taylor, spokesman for An Taisce in Meath and a resident of Slane said: “I’d be very reluctant about anything that might hold up that road. It has been several years in the offing and it has gone through numerous public presentations and the route chosen appears to be the least offensive [one].”

A spokesman for the NRA said, “we have selected a route with the least impact. It is 1.5 kilometres from the core of the Brú na Bóinne and around that centre core is a buffer zone; this route is 500 metres from the perimeter of that buffer zone.” However, the statement does say that also within 500 metres of the route are 44 archaeological and cultural sites. The next stage is for An Bord Pleanála to decide whether to hold an oral hearing into any objections or submissions on the proposed route.

Letter to The Irish Times - 26th January 2010

Controversy over Slane bypass proposal

Madam, – In struggling to defend the preferred route for the N2 Slane Bypass, which runs 500m from the edge of the Bend of the Boyne UNESCO World Heritage Site, a spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA) said, “we have selected a route with the least impact” (Home News, January 22nd). This is not true and there is no doubt that a western bypass would have a much lesser impact, as the proposed dual carriageway will sever the World Heritage Site from the village of Slane, and box it in between the M2 motorway and a dual carriageway.

As your reporter Elaine Keogh noted, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project acknowledges “44 archaeological and cultural sites” will be within 500m of the roadway. The potential to uncover much more during work is high. In addition, the EIS identified 21 architectural heritage sites within the study area, including the Ledwidge Cottage, birth-place of Ireland’s most famous first World War poet, Francis Ledwidge. The 19th-century farm labourer’s cottage is now a museum dedicated to him. The EIS also states, “The wider landscape is judged as being of very high value and the River Boyne valley is deemed as being of ‘exceptional’ value.”

According to the UNESCO website, “The Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne” is “Europe’s largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art. The monuments there had social, economic, religious and funerary functions. The committee inscribed the site under criteria (i), (iii) and (iv) and invited the Irish authorities to control carefully future developments in and around the site and to involve Icomos (International Council on Monuments and Sites) in conservation and management planning.”

Criterion (i) is “to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius”; (iii) is “to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has disappeared”; and (iv) is “to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates [a] significant stage(s) in human history.” There is little doubt that the 44 known archaeological sites, and the numerous others yet to be discovered within the 3.5km stretch, are related to the archaeological ensemble.

This makes the site a perfect candidate for the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger, which is designed “to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.” Although the Irish authorities claim they have written to UNESCO, they have not publicly reported a response prior to picking the preferred route, and the clock is now ticking for making objections.

Meath County Council has already issued notices for compulsory purchase of land, despite the fact that planning permission is far from being granted, and public consultation continues.

Dr Edgar Morgenrath, associate research professor and co-ordinator of the Transport and Infrastructure Research Programme at the Economic and Social Research Institute noted: “It is remarkable that there are plans to facilitate the avoidance of the toll on the M1 by building a bypass around Slane involving the expensive construction of a bridge over the river Boyne when a simple HGV ban would solve the local traffic problems” (Opinion, April 24th, 2009). Meath councillors voted in 2009 “to ban HGVs going through Slane because of the dangerous and steep incline from the bridge on the N2 into the village.” (Home News, July 16th, 2009).

The county manager has failed implement the ban, which would have been the solution with the “least impact”. The next best option would have been a western bypass, but instead the NRA has chosen the route with the most impact. – Yours, etc,

Vincent Salafia,
Effra Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6.
The Irish Times - 26th January 2010.

Ex-attorney general among objectors to Slane bypass near prehistoric sites

By Frank McDonald, Environment Editor, The Irish Times - 17th February 2010.

Former Attorney general John Rogers SC, who lives in the Boyne valley, will be among the objectors to plans by Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority (NRA) to build a bypass of Slane 500 metres from the Brú na Bóinne archaeological complex.

Today is the last day for making submissions to An Bord Pleanála, which will adjudicate on the scheme under the 2006 Strategic Infrastructure Act. Depending on the number of objections, the board may decide to hold an oral hearing.

The proposed route, running east of Slane, is being opposed by the newly formed Save Newgrange campaign, led by Vincent Salafia, who was prominent in the protracted struggle against the M3 motorway because of its proximity to the Hill of Tara. Yesterday, Mr Salafia called on An Bord Pleanála to extend the deadline, arguing that the public notice was inadequate, that more time was needed by the public and that access to information on the project had been “unreasonably curtailed”.

He said Save Newgrange had lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission, alleging the public consultation process was “flawed” and calling on the commission to intervene so the deadline could be extended for 90 days.

The planned new section of the N2 is 3.5km long and would cross the river Boyne on a new bridge at a location 1.1km to the east of the existing Slane Bridge, which has been the scene of several traffic incidents involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

The frequency and severity of these incidents have been reduced since 2002, when the county council introduced extra traffic signals and an overhead gantry on the steeper southbound approach to the bridge, to control HGVs. It is estimated that some 1,600 HGVs pass through the centre of Slane village every day. The volume of such traffic on the N2 led local residents to campaign for a ban on HGVs in Slane, and this was adopted by the county council in April 2009.

The resolution was not implemented because of fears that it “could have serious consequences for Meath County Council in terms of possible legal exposure, delivery delays and business frustration”, according to director of services Eugene Cummins. The environmental impact statement (EIS) on the bypass proposal says it would remove through-traffic from the existing N2 through Slane, improving the village’s environment as well as giving an “improved level of service” on the route.

However, it concedes that the new stretch of the N2 route would be “just over 500 metres from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne, comprising the three main prehistoric sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth”, on the north bank of the Boyne. “The assessment identified 44 archaeological and cultural heritage constraints within 500m of the route. Of these, five will be impacted directly, two will be impacted indirectly and 34 will have no predicted impact,” according to the EIS.

For the 10 sites that would be affected, the potential impact is rated as “potentially significant” for three, “moderate” for two, “slight” for another two and “no predicted impact” for one. The remaining two are “areas of undetermined archaeological potential”.