The European Commission has decided to take court action against Britain for environmental breaches and its failure to adequately treat waste water discharged from 13 towns and cities, it announced today.
The majority of the towns and cities listed in the referral to the European Court of Justice are in Northern Ireland. The action is for breach of the EU's Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive which required the installation of waste water collection systems and so-called secondary (biological) treatment by a deadline of December 21 st, 2000.
The move comes after the Commission sent a first letter warning the UK in July 2004, followed by a second warning last December. Despite the warnings, said the European Commission, collection systems and the secondary treatment is still not in place in the 13 named towns and cities.
They are: Bangor, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Donaghadee, Londonderry, Larne, Newtownabbey, Omagh and Portrush, in Northern Ireland; Brighton, Margate and Broadstairs in England and Lerwick in Scotland.
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "EU environmental legislation has already done a lot to improve the state of the environment in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. "But to be fully effective, it must be fully implemented."
The Commission said the situation in Northern Ireland risked being exacerbated by a decision to allow substantial new development to go ahead in some of the areas where no appropriate waste water treatment is in place.
In parallel, another infringement case has been dealing with the lack of designation of sensitive rivers and coastal waters in Northern Ireland, as well as the lack of protection of rivers and coastal waters that had been designated as sensitive.
The Commission said it sent a first warning in July 2003 and a second in July 2004. This case is now also being referred to the Court of Justice.
PA