Decision due within weeks on Midleton flood defence system
Flooding in Midleton during Storm Babet devastated hundreds of businesses and homes and caused tens of millions in damage. File picture: Cork County Council
A decision is due within weeks on how to progress a €50m flood defence plan for a Cork town which was swamped during Storm Babet — but it could be another two years before it is ready for planning.
Midleton town centre and adjoining areas were inundated by flood waters during last October’s severe weather event, devastating hundreds of businesses and homes, and causing tens of millions in damage.
Amid concerns about the pace of progress on the town’s flood relief scheme, OPW Minister Kieran O’Donnell said two main options for planning consent for the delivery of the scheme are being considered — the Part 10 route or the Arterial Drainage Act 1945.
“The potential impact on the programme and delivery of the scheme under each option is being considered before a decision on the form of consent to be adopted,” he said.
“The decision will inform the agreement with some 80 landowners whose lands are required to construct and further the scheme. We will have a final decision over the coming weeks.”
But it could be 2025 or 2026 before a detailed scheme is published for whatever consent process is chosen, he revealed.
While the estimated time for application for consent between the two options is not significantly different, the state “cannot speed up the process”, he said.
“We will be looking at some time towards 2025-2026,” he said.
Further information has been sought on the council’s plans to raise the wall upstream of Castlemartyr Bridge, and for the cleaning, widening and deepening of the river, while the council is also preparing an application for interim works at Gleann Fia and at other locations in Mogeely.
The recently appointed minister of state said in the wake of Storm Babet, new computer modelling was done to test storm events against the preferred flood defence options for the town that had been identified beforehand.
The results show the designed scheme can meet the standard of protection, he said.
The details were issued in response to questions from Fine Gael TD for Cork East, David Stanton, about progress on flood relief schemes for Midleton, Castlemartyr, and Mogeely.
He said there is a real sense of a lack of urgency about the Midleton scheme now.
“The people involved need progress. When it rains, people are afraid to go to sleep. It is that serious,” he said.
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