Save Newgrange

The unique prehistoric site of Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland is threatened by a planned bypass of Slane village; to preserve the site, the village should be closed to lorries, or the bypass should take a western route.

The preferred route for the N2 Slane Bypass, County Meath, Ireland, announced in January 2010 by the National Roads Authority, runs 500 metres from the edge of the Bend of the Boyne UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to the World Heritage Committee: “The three main prehistoric sites of the Bru na Boinne Complex, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, are situated on the north bank of the River Boyne 50 km north of Dublin. This 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 in conservation and management planning.”

The following petition can be signed at: https://www.savenewgrange.org

THIS PETITION, launched on 27 January, 2010, is addressed to:

1. UNESCO 2. The Minister for the Environment, of Ireland, John Gormley 3. Meath County Manager, Tom Dowling

WE THE UNDERSIGNED,

ARE EXTREMELY CONCERNED for the protection of the Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne World Heritage Site,

AND CALL ON YOU TO ACT, according to your legal and moral duties, respectively and co-operatively,

TO ADDRESS THE POTENTIAL THREAT posed by the preferred route of the Slane bypass, which will pass within 500 metres of the World Heritage Site, as well as 44, many of which will be demolished,

IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

1. UNESCO

- We ask UNESCO to

(a) Place Bru na Boinne on the List of World Heritage in Danger, so that the project can be properly assessed before going ahead.

(b) Consider whether the boundary of the World Heritage Site should be expanded to incorporate the 44 newly discovered sites along the preferred route, if they prove to be part of the archaeological ensemble.

2. MINISTER GORMLEY

- We ask John Gormley to:

(a) Publish the entire file on this matter, including correspondence with UNESCO and the archaeological testing results and reports for all of the route options examined before reaching the preferred route.

(b) Publish the heads of legislation of the new National Monuments Bill 2010, which have already been circulated within Government Departments, and to accelerate delivery of the Bill to the Environment Committee for debate.

3 COUNTY MANAGER DOWLING

- We ask Meath County Manager, Tom Dowling, to:

(a) Implement the HGV ban immediately, which was voted for by Meath County Councillors last year. Even if the bypass project goes ahead as planned, it will be years before it is open. We feel it is critical that the ban is put in place now, so as to calm both the traffic and the interested parties.

(b) Halt the CPO process, until the public consultation has ended. We feel that it is in breach of EU law for the County Council to begin purchasing land before planning permission is granted, and the public have had their say.

SINCERELY,

[Sign at: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savenewgrange/

Urgent Appeal