Milltown sewerage plant would cost €1m

The construction of a new sewerage treatment plant at Milltown village could cost as much as €1m to deliver according to council design estimates.

Included as an objective in the draft County Development Plan 2022-2028, a motion for debating the matter was tabled by Fianna Fáil's Sean Smith who noted that there had been impressive investment in the village down through the years, and the ambition was to try and encourage more.

Party colleague John Paul Feeley supported the motion, describing Milltown as a “prime candidate” for such an installation, on lands already owned by council and where plans to build a facility had been explored previously.

Independent Brendan Fay also gave his backing to the proposal, as did Fine Gael's Peter McVitty.

There was support too from Cllrs Patricia Walsh (FF), Madeleine Argue (FG), and Val Smith (FG) who said there was an issue in several areas where, without a treatment plant, an area could not have its status upgraded.

Cllr Smith said the Lavey area had been turned down in its application to be considered a village. The result was the area could not apply and avail of funding supports available specifically for towns and villages in the region.

“I think we should look down through the list of towns and villages again and see how this can be progressed,” said Cllr Smith, adding that Mullagh and Maghera were in a similar situation.

Director of Services Paddy Connaughton informed the meeting that the site in Milltown had been purchased in 2008, and at the time it was estimated the build would cost €1m.

“The biggest challenge is finding a funding stream,” said Mr Connaughton, further commenting that there were 12 other “settlements” where investment was needed.