An environmentalist is taking his case to Europe to prevent the building of a major new cross border road scheme.

The green campaigner, who is opposed to the construction of the new A5 dual carriageway between Aughnacloy and Londonderry said it is because he fears it will have a devastating impact on the environment in the North West.

The road will run across into the Irish Republic as well and has been supported by Dublin as well as Stormont politicians.

He is now taking his case to Europe in a bid to prevent the construction companies moving in to clear the hundreds of acres that will be involved in the multi-million pound project.

Newbuildings man, Victor Christie, a local spokesman for Friends of the Earth and a member of the A5 Alliance, told the lcoa paper, the Strabane Weekly News that he hopes to present his concerns over many aspects of the £850m scheme to the European Commission within the next month.

Describing the project as a "dangerous experiment", Mr Christie warned that the preferred route of the A5 will run through a "substantial" flood plain for nine kilometres between Strabane and Bready, leading to serious consequences for the surrounding landscape.

Mr Christie, an engineer who has worked on motorways in the UK and Canada, said: "They are planning to build the new road on a high embankment going through the flood plain.

"This would raise the water table substantially on 2,000 acres of good farmland with rich fertile soil. This land would then be subject to serious flooding in the future, thereby diminishing the soil quality of the flood plain."

The environmental activist said that this would cause the ground to lose fertility, the soil to become more stagnant, and would also affect the nesting sites of local birds. Noise pollution would also increase as the height of the dual carriageway above the landscape would make sound carry much further, he claimed.

Mr Christie added: "The sad thing is, the evidence won't be completely obvious maybe for years afterwards. By that time, the people in charge of the construction work will have gone."

The Newbuildings man also wants a safety audit carried out to ensure that the danger from high winds to the raised road has been mitigated.

Claiming that the economics of the project "don't stand up", he warned that the cost of building the road through the flood plain would be four times more than building it through normal, hard ground.

In a recent email sent to Stormont Environment Minister Edwin Poots, Mr Christie also suggested that the road should instead be taken into Donegal at Lifford and connected to Londonderry via Bridgend.

See: Consultancy Fees On A5 Accelerate

(BMcC/GK)