With an overall area of 40ha, Culmore landfill site is one of Northern Ireland’s largest non-operating landfill sites, but now looks set for a new lease of life, as Derry City Council has recently approved the masterplan for the restoration of the site to create public green space.
RPS is appointed to develop plans for the site’s restoration to meet the conditions of the Waste Management License that the city council maintains it under, and the requirements of the NI Environment Agency. Alongside this, the RPS offices in Letterkenny and Belfast also led the public and stakeholder consultations to determine how local people and stakeholders envisaged the site.
Originally a tidal area, the land was reclaimed from Lough Foyle for agricultural uses during the late 19th and early 20th centuries –using sea defences to create arable land. Later in the 20th century the sea defences were breached and the site reverted to mudflats, before it was developed as a landfill site –operating from 1971 until 2007. The site includes 8ha of RAMSAR, SPA and ASSI land, and is rich in wildfowl habitats on mudflats, upper tidal levels and areas of scrub grassland.
The masterplan for the new site is valued at an estimated £8.75m and sets out detailed plans for a long-term conversion to a district public park with landscaped open spaces, foot and cycle ways, and an environmental education centre, with sports ground provision.
A Geosynthetic Clay Liner (GCL) cap will be installed to stop rainwater penetrating the waste and becoming contaminated. This will then be covered by a minimum 1m deep layer of topsoil and subsoil, above a drainage layer which will collect rainwater and divert it to the River Foyle. A network of vertical gas wells and pipework already exists on site for capturing landfill gas -mainly methane. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas -being over twenty times more effective than carbon dixoide at trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere. It is therefore burned on site in special flares to prevent it escaping into the atmosphere. However, the methane represents a valuable fuel source -and plans are now in place to sell the gas to electricity generating companies. Not only will this displace the use of fossil fuels -it will generate revenue for the Council.
Derry City Council is also exploring the potential for an innovative trial which will use short coppice willow planting that will provide for sustainable treatment of leachate arising at the site.
Site work is due to start later this year, and will take approximately two and a half years to reach final completion.
Contact:
Donal Doyle
T: +353 (0) 74 91 61927
E: donal.doyle@rpsgroup.com