Eight months before Cork Council ready to submit plans for Midleton flood scheme

Cork County Council will not be ready to apply to An Coimisiún Pleanála until September for permission to proceed with its plans for a €56m flood prevention project in Midleton.

A meeting was told it could then take up to 18 months before the planning body makes a decision on the application.

Acting county engineer Brendan Meagher told a meeting of Cork County Council’s Southern Division that the preferred option for Midleton includes upstream storage, public realm works, direct defences, and groundwater control measures.

Mr Meagher also said that a number of tenders are now live for the procurement of barriers for the larger and more complex openings by river channels, with tenders due back at the end of this week.

BARRIERS

A first delivery of these barriers is due in the next fortnight. Civil works contracts will be separately appointed to allow for the larger barrier installation.

Mr Meagher added that 27% of all properties in the town which need flood barriers have had them installed to date. He added that it could take up to 18 months for An Coimisiún Pleanála to make a decision on the Midleton project.

Mr Meagher also revealed details of progress on a number of other similar projects around the county.

Details of the Tír Cluain Flood Defence Project, which is specifically for the advance works at the Knockgriffin and Broomfield West areas of the town, are to be presented to county councillors at a meeting in County Hall next Monday.

A consultant will be appointed at the end of March or early April to draw up plans for flood defences in Castlemartyr and Mogeely. Mr Meagher said there is potential for an interim flood storage solution on the River Kiltha upstream of Castlemartyr. This is under investigation, but is dependent on landowner agreement, and engagement continues.

On the western side of the city, the council is seeking alternative funding streams for a €1.6m flood defence scheme in the village of Crookstown, after a setback. The OPW would only give it a little over €300,000 for some minor works after ruling out more, as it did not think there was cost benefit in a bigger project.

Mr Meagher said the council is considering alternative funding sources for this project, including a climate change adaptation and resilience grant and Department of Transport-specific improvement grants.

“The project is currently on hold until funding sources are confirmed,” he said.

Fine Gael councillor Ted Lucey said the village cannot grow until it is completed.