Election 2024: Climate — 'Lack of flood defences is holding Blackpool back'
In Saw In Picture: Cork, 2022 Andy Clearing Gibson Gullies Torrential City Rain Crews Cork And Council Drains Blackpool,
It’s been years in the making, but another Government has come and gone without a breakthrough for the people of Blackpool in Cork city on their long-awaited flood relief scheme.
“We’re disappointed to say the least,” said Jer Buckley, who runs The Pantry in the north city suburb. “There’s been no proper delivery of the Blackpool flood scheme for the Blackpool people.
“It is very, very worrying for people. People are constantly dealing with the threat of it. In Storm Babet, I was up to my knees putting up flood barriers. It’s not an acceptable way to live or do business. There’s enormous potential here.”
The estimated €20m flood relief scheme is over a decade in the making. The OPW has described the proposed flood relief scheme as a "critically required infrastructural investment in the Blackpool area" which will protect businesses and people in the area from the ongoing risk of flooding.
The OPW and its consultants had spent the better part of 10 years analysing, assessing, and modelling the flood risk in Blackpool, and engaging in public consultation, before it presented its preferred flood relief options for the area.
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However, a legal challenge was brought by campaigners in 2021 who opposed its proposal to culvert a section of the river Bride, insisting that hard engineering options would damage the river, which is home to an important otter population, and that nature-based flood mitigation measure upstream should be considered.
Chris Moody, part of the Save Our Bride Otters group which took the case, said he absolutely agreed that flooding needs to be addressed but said the upstream storage area for heavy rainfall used in the Clonakilty flood relief scheme provided a better template than the one the OPW had proposed.
“If you look at flooding in Valencia, are the kind of flood defences we’re building in Ireland going to be able to deal with that?” he said. “We need to slow the water down before it gets to our villages, we need to store them away from our towns.
“That’s the best solution rather than destroying the river we have here. Politicians are often too willing to capitalise on problems and offer short-term solutions.”
The Department of Public Expenditure agreed to consent to an order reverting the evaluation of the scheme back for further public consultation which required more information from the OPW. At the moment, further information sought from the OPW by the department is set to be issued by the end of this month.
But it all comes against a backdrop of the risks that flooding poses to the area. While Storm Babet ravaged Midleton, Blackpool was also hit. Significant flooding also hit Blackpool in 2012 while it was flooded twice in six days a decade earlier.
Subsequent research revealed a link between the Storm Babet flooding and the climate change, with human induced climate change making the extreme weather event “more likely and more intense”. It even warned the flooding could’ve been much more extensive and a “bullet had been dodged”.
While residents fear another disaster amid “broken promises” a year on, other areas like Blackpool are also feeling worried about the impact of future flooding with many like Mr Buckley supporting the original plans and stressing the need to get it sorted quickly.
“We need proper leadership here,” he said, crediting Fine Gael’s Colm Burke for his work on trying to progress the scheme. “[This ongoing saga] is causing huge division. It’s holding Blackpool back.”
He said he’d heard of cases where prospective business owners hadn’t been able to finalise sales of local businesses due to insurance and liquidity risks.
“We need this flood scheme approved and moved on now,” Mr Buckley added. “You can’t have a situation where people’s homes and businesses are being destroyed. It can’t be put on the long finger. We’ve got to get real here.”