Housing development in East Cork likely to be delayed until flooding plan in place

Midleton in County Cork was hit by flooding  caused by storm Babet. Picture: Maria Kring/PA Wire

The development of thousands of houses in East Cork looks likely to be delayed until a comprehensive plan is drawn up to deal with flooding.

Senior council engineers have agreed on the need to revisit major housing projects planned for Carrigtwohill and Midleton to ensure adequate drainage and flood defence works are in place before they’re built.

Councillors are seriously concerned with the extent of recent flooding in Carrigtwohill, on land where hundreds of new homes are planned, and also the high risk of similar occurrences at nearby Waterrock, close to Midleton, which has been zoned by the council for a new 2,500-house town.

Members of the Cobh Municipal District Council, which governs the area, have sought a ‘walkabout’ with the county engineer and his staff to outline the extent of recent flooding in the two zoned areas.

Carrigtwohill-based Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry won unanimous support from colleagues when he said the fallout from Storm Babet meant a complete review of the flood risks in Carrigtwohill must be undertaken before any further large-scale planning applications can be considered.

He said while the town was not as badly hit as Midleton, it nevertheless suffered a lot. New apartments built in the town suffered serious flood damage. 

Mr Barry pointed out that a major development of 700 homes currently being considered by An Bord Pleanála is proposed for just behind the apartments.

Just to the north of that, again in a potential flood area, the council has zoned land for a further 2,500 houses.

Mr Barry said land earmarked for the Waterrock development also flooded and this project must also be revisited by council planners.

“It’s absolute lunacy if we don’t learn from this. The definition of madness is you do the same thing over and over again but expect a different result. The Waterrock area isn't included in the Midleton flood plan, which is absolutely disgraceful,” he said.

Mr Barry said an underwater river flows through that area and if the rock structure collapses it will cause a disaster. 

“We need to take a breather here and reflect,” he added.

Municipal district chairman Alan O’Connor agreed there's a need for a full assessment of all watercourses in the general Carrigtwohill area, especially as some properties built there in the past 20 years “had been inundated.” 

Local council engineers also agreed a major reassessment is needed and said, in particular, there are serious issues with the ‘Woodstock Stream’ which flows into the town.

They said the culverts serving it are too small and the council will seek government funding to improve them, along with similar structures in other parts of the county.

Meanwhile, flood damage to the N25, especially on the section between Carrigtwohill and Midleton, is adding to the road’s continuing deterioration.

The council wrote several months ago to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) asking it to carry out major resurfacing on this section. However, TII has still to reply.

Councillors said this is unacceptable are to write to TII again demanding action.

“They should have had the courtesy to come back to us. It's in an appalling state and we’re coming into the winter, so it’s only going to get worse,” Mr Barry said.