VIDEO: Cork County Council vows to review housing plans after land flooded

Cork County Council management has promised to look at plans for major housing projects on land which was flooded during Storm Frank.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey said in light of the December 29/30 deluge and some weather events before and after that a review would be carried out on land which had been set aside for future housing projects.

He made his comments after a number of councillors expressed concern that areas earmarked for several projects were flooded in recent weeks.

Des O’Grady (Sinn Féin) said he’d seen one such area in Ballincollig which never flooded before under water.

He said he was in particular concerned about so-called master plans for major housing development on the periphery of the city which could be under threat from global warming.

“It’s a countywide issue. I want a full audit as quickly as possible,” he said.

Anthony Barry (Fine Gael) said he was a bit concerned about flooding in Carrigtwohill and Water Rock, Midleton. These areas — parts of which were flooded during Storm Frank — are earmarked for 5,000-plus houses, schools and shops, .

He maintained there was a history of flooding in these areas over the years.

Mr Barry added that in places areas which were predicted to flood didn’t and others which shouldn’t have did. As a result he said, all major development plans “had to be revisited”.

Mr Lucey said he would ask council-appointed consultants to review baseline data which will be fed into a review of maps it had for such areas. He added that council engineers would also be asked to have an input into the new database.

The chief executive said the new data would be made available in October/November, at which stage councillors could review it as part the formation of LAPs (Local Area Plans), which are blueprints for future development in the county’s eight municipal districts. “Whatever information we have we will feed into them (the LAPs),” Mr Lucey said.

Mr Lucey said from April on he would be in a position to gain more information on possible future flooding impacts and would keep councillors informed on every step of the way after that.