€10m flood-relief plans unveiled for Cork suburb

Plans have been unveiled for a €10m flood-relief scheme to protect a Cork satellite town which suffered serious damage in summer 2012.

The OPW and Cork County Council plan to start work on the Glanmire scheme towards the end of this year, or early 2016 at the latest, and it will take 18-24 months to complete.

The public was invited to view the plans yesterday which include defence walls, embankments, culverts, and modifications to some bridges stretching along the River Glashaboy, from Sallybrook to the mouth of the estuary at Tivoli.

Colm Brennan, executive engineer with the council’s coastal management and flood-prevention unit, said the walls would vary in height from 0.6m to 1.8m, with the highest point being around the 48-house Meadowbrook estate which was completely overwhelmed when the Glashaboy burst its banks on June 28, 2012.

An extra culvert is to be put under the existing bridge near the Hazelwood shopping centre. It is proposed that the internal roadbridge linking the shopping centre with the adjoining Crestfield shopping centre will be removed and replaced with an elevated pedestrian bridge.

Resident Padraig O’Connor said he wanted an old road bridge, south of Meadowbrook, replaced as its ‘eyes’ were regularly blocked.

Jim Healy, chairman of Meadowbrook Residents’ Association, said he was happy to see the plans, but questioned the timeline and believed 2020 was a more likely completion date. “We just hope in the meantime we don’t get a repeat of what happened.”

The plans were generally welcomed by people attending the exhibition at Sarsfield’s Hurling Club, but some concerns were raised.

Locals have been asked to submit their views to project consultants Ove Arup by March 20. A final exhibition of the preferred works will be held in the summer.