Work on town’s flood defences set for 2013

CRUCIAL flood defence works for a West Cork town may start in late summer next year.

A 2013 date has been pencilled in by Cork County Council for the commencement of the proposed €14 million scheme in Skibbereen.

County engineer Noel O’Keeffe said preferred options presented to the council by its consultants, RPS, included building embankments and large protecting walls, primarily along the banks of the River Ilen, west of the town.

“There will also be similar works carried out on some of the smaller tributaries which flow into the town, centre such as the Assolass and Caol,” he said.

It is envisaged the river bed of the Ilen will be deepened in the vicinity of the John F Kennedy Bridge, near the West Cork Hotel.

This will enable water to escape more rapidly into the estuary in the event of very heavy rainfall.

“When the bad flood of November 2009 hit the town, we immediately commissioned a report from RPS consultants and got funding from the OPW to carry out the study on how best to prevent flooding in the future,” he said.

Detailed design work on the project will commence shortly.

It is expected the project will go to tender in early 2013, with work starting by the late summer.

“It will take about a further 18 months to complete and it will be fully funded by the OPW,” the county engineer said.

Some land acquisition, especially around some of the tributaries, will be required before contractors can start building some of the walls and embankments.

Demountable steel barriers will also be provided on roads near the river, similar to ones which have been put in place in Fermoy and Mallow.

“Skibbereen has a history of flooding going back many years. The defences will be able to cope with a one-in-200-year flood. To put that in perspective, if the November 2009 flood was to repeat itself when the defences are built we would still have two feet to spare on the walls,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

Cork’s county mayor Tim Lombard said he was very impressed with the plans, more detailed versions of which will go on public display when they are finalised.

“One of the proposals was to dig a second channel for the river (Ilen), but the consultants decided against this and have gone for walls and embankments instead,” Mr Lombard said.

Mr O’Keeffe said the initial preferred options went on public display last week in Skibbereen and the council was very satisfied with the local community’s response.

“I think you could say they met with almost universal approval,” the county engineer said.