A COMPULSORY purchase order (CPO) for the acquisition of 12 acres of land on the Westport House estate for the construction of a £16 million sewage treatment scheme for the town was approved this week by the Minister for the Environment.
The land is part of the 400 acre, Westport House tourist estate owned by Lord Jeremy Altamount, who refused to sell this precise portion of land to the council.
The CPO approval follows a six month wait by Mayo County Council, which held a day long oral public hearing earlier this year with Lord Altamount, during which objections to the scheme were aired. The consensus was reached at the end of the hearing that the council would, persevere with its application to the Department of the Environment for a CPO to be carried out on the site.
The six month delay by Mr Howlin in responding to the CPO application put EU funding for the plant in serious jeopardy, as was revealed last week when the director of the EU Cohesion Fund, Mr Jean Francois Verstrynge, announced the £12 million funding was to be withdrawn because the location for the scheme and other issues had not been finalised.
Lord Altamount has contested the CPO from the outset on the basis that he had an alternative site to offer to the council, which he claimed, if developed for the sewage plant, would have a less damaging effect on the aesthetic character of Westport House.
Mayo Council rejected the alternative site on the grounds that it was unsuitable from an environmental, economic and engineering point of view.
The threatened withdrawal of EU funds for the scheme in recent weeks triggered massive intervention by Ministers and TDs in the Mayo constituency who strengthened their appeal to the Minister to make known his decision on the CPO.
The controversy over Mr Howlin's handling of a new sewage treatment plant for Galway, which also led to a withdrawal of the EU cohesion funds, featured strongly in the arguments by Mayo politicians.
Lord Altamount now has 21 days in which to make an appeal to the High Court against the CPO. However, he is the target of appeals from Mayo politicians this week, who are urging him to accept the CPO for the betterment of Westport town.
"Any further delays will most certainly amount to the death knell of any possibility of EU funding for the project," said the Fianna Fail TD, Mr Seamus Hughes.
Mr Michael Ring TD of Fine Gael said he lamented the fact that the site could not have been, taken over by agreement rather, than being compulsorily taken from Lord Altamount, who he said, has made a great impact on the tourism industry in Westport.
Lord Altamount has not yet revealed whether he is to appeal. Speaking on local radio yesterday evening, he accused Mr Howlin of aiding and abetting Mayo County Council in the destruction of one of Ireland's best known heritage houses. He said he was very disappointed in the decision and that he is considering his position.