Public participation day for €6.7 million Bantry Flood Relief Scheme announced.
The first of three public participations planned for the flood-hit West Cork town's flood relief plans is to be held next week.
The public are being invited to share their expertise and experience in the first of three public engagements for a proposed €6.7m flood relief scheme in Bantry.
The first meeting is due to be held next Wednesday. News of the meeting was shared via a Cork County Council press release today.
The West Cork town is subject to repeated flooding, both from tidal sources and from the River Mealagh, leading to one local TD dubbing Bantry “the most flooded town in Ireland.”
Stage 1: assessing options
Following last year’s Storm Barra floods, a previous flood event in August 2020, and frustration from local businesses as to delays in progressing the plans, Cork County Council have appointed JB Barry and Partners Ltd and JBA Consulting Engineers and Scientists Ltd, as consultants for the local flood relief scheme.
OPW Minister Patrick O’Donovan told the Southern Star in a visit to the town following Storm Barra last year that the project would address Bantry’s dual flood risks of river and sea “separately but in parallel.”
The first public participation event is being held as part of stage 1 of the scheme, which is essentially where options are being explored as to public preference, alongside site investigations and hydrological and hydraulic assessments.
Two more public engagements will take place to discuss plans as a preferred option emerges and the planning stage approaches.
Minister urges public involvement
Minister O’Donovan urged the public to contribute to the process.
“It’s really important that our response to flooding is robustly designed and incorporates the views of the community it is designed to protect,” he said in an emailed statement.
“I therefore encourage all stakeholders and members of the public to share their experience of, and knowledge on, flood events and to actively input into the development of the flood relief scheme for Bantry from the very start.”
The Minister has come under fire from environmental groups in the past for using his public platform to call on campaigners to withdraw their legal challenge to the Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme.
Trying to do better on “Insufficient public consultation”?
“Insufficient public consultation” was the grounds upon which campaigners on the River Bride in Blackpool, Cork City, saw the state concede in the face of their application for judicial review in January of this year.
When, where and how?
Bantry area residents can attend next week’s event at Áras Beanntraí in Wolfe Tone Square, next Wednesday, May 18 from 4pm to 8pm, with presentations by the project team given at 5pm and 7pm. There will also be a questionnaire to fill out.
Cork County Council also said they will “welcome feedback on the Bantry Flood Relief Scheme project,” and that members of the public can email info@bantryfrs.ie or send a letter to Bantry Flood Relief Scheme, JBA Consulting, Unit 24 Grove Island, Corbally, Limerick.
Read some other Tripe + Drisheen coverage of County Cork flood relief schemes here: