Relief works for flood-hit town to be a year late

The Bandon flood relief scheme will not now begin until May 2014, meaning the town will continue to face the risk of flooding for some time to come.

Timelines have now been laid out for both the town’s main drainage and flood relief schemes.

At the end of October Cork County Council and the project’s then contractors, SIAC Construction, issued a joint statement saying work on the €3.5m main drainage scheme “had been suspended due to events beyond the control of either party”. The project had been due to be completed next summer.

It has now emerged that Cork County Council is to continue the archaeology excavations for the project, it will go to tender in Apr 2013 and work should start next autumn.

The tender process for flood relief will not now happen until Sept 2013 with work to commence almost eight months later.

Local Labour councillor Gearóid Buckley welcomed that progress had been made since the previous SIAC contract ceased.

“It is disappointing that we will have lost almost a year on this vital project... we now need to concentrate all our efforts in getting diggers back onto our streets and commencing work on our long-overdue sewerage scheme.”

He said the announcement that works on the flood relief scheme are not due to begin until May 2014 was a shock to many in the community.

“These works are long overdue and flood events which occurred just a few short weeks ago, highlight the need for this to be fast tracked,” he said adding that the OPW and Cork County Council had made it clear the project could not be brought forward.

“The Bandon comm-unity heavily fund Cork County Council via our commercial rates, parking and now property charges. It is vital that we get our fair share in return. Annual dredging should be on top of Cork County Council’s annual budget until such time the full flood relief scheme has completed.”