COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC REALM AND CLIMATE CHANGE SPC

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

HEADED ITEM NO.

HEADED ITEM: M. McAdam

Presentation on the Climate Action Plan.   Theme:  Flood Resilience

REPLY:

River Poddle Flood Alleviation Scheme 

Works are now completed under Stage 1 – Preliminary Design and the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and Planning Drawings for Part X Planning Application

Following an extensive design and a broad non statutory public consultation, notification of intent seeking Part 10 Planning approval from An Bord Pleanala for the scheme was advertised on February 13th 2020. All planning documents will be available to view and inspect from February 27th 2020 at the following locations

  1. South Dublin County Council offices, County Hall, Belgard Square North, Tallaght, Dublin 24 between the hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on working days from 27th February to 16th April (inclusive).
  2. Dublin City Council Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8, between the hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on working days from 27th February to 16th April (inclusive).
  3. The offices of An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1 between the hours of 9:15 am to 5:30 pm on working days from 27th February to 16th April (inclusive).
  4. The County Library, Library Square, Tallaght, Dublin 24 between the hours of 9:45am to 8:00pm Monday to Thursday and 9:45 am to 4:30 pm Friday and Saturday from 27th February to 16th April (inclusive).
  5. Rathmines Library, 157 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6, between the hours of 10:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday to Thursday and 10:00 am and 5:00 pm Friday and Saturday from 27th February to 16th April (inclusive).

In South Dublin, the Document will be available to view on the Public Consultation Portal on-line and on the portals in County Hall. 

All information relating to the scheme is available and will continue to be updated on the website www.poddlesfas.ie.

Following the availability of the planning documents, no less than 7 weeks of Statutory Public Consultation will take place up until April 16th 2020 where local public information events will be held in early March in both the SDCC and DCC Administrative areas. Details of the events will be made through social media and a leaflet drop once venues have been secured.

During this period submissions or observations may be made in writing to An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1

The Part X Planning process is estimated to take between 6 and 8 months and An Bord Pleanála may call an oral hearing if there are substantial objections to the scheme. Subject to a favourable decision from An Bord Pleanála construction is hoped to commence in late 2020 or early 2021.

Whitechurch Stream Flood Alleviation Scheme

The Whitechurch Stream Flood Alleviation Scheme commenced with the appointment of RPS Group in October 2018 as Technical Consultants.

In Q2 2019, following the review by the consultant of by the draft Preliminary Design Report issued by the OPW in Q1 2019, significant changes have taken place in relation to the Planning route required for the scheme. Following environmental impact screening of the scheme and as a result of the Sweetman v Coillte judgement by the CJEU in June 2018, it was recommended by the consultant that planning would now have to be applied to An Bord Pleanala under Section 177AE of the Planning and Development Act 2000 as opposed to the Part IIX process which was originally intended.

Following the recommendation, it was established that greater details of design and environmental reporting is required under Sec177AE which includes for Stage 2 Appropriate Assessment - Natura Impact statement.

Since the recommendation a Natura Impact Statement, an Ecological Assessment Report and a Screening for Environmental Impact Assessment Report have been compiled which have included comprehensive Bat Surveys, Habitat Surveys and Flora and Fauna Surveys. The Cost Benefit Analysis for the scheme has also been completed.

A broad Tree Survey has also recently been completed along the route and when the result of this has been analysed a number of Public Information Days/Evenings were held in November on the 20th, 26th & 27th, informing the public and relevant stakeholders of the proposed details of the scheme. These information dates were held in SDCC Head Office and in the Whitechurch library building.

Since the last SPC meeting ground investigations were carried out and due to the soil conditions foundation options are under review.

It is currently estimated that the planning submission to ABP will be in March 2020 where a decision on planning is expected to take 6 months.

Camac Flood Alleviation Scheme

Following a competitive tender process under the Multi Party Framework Agreement for Consultant Engineering Design Services for future Flood Alleviation Projects in County Dublin, AECOM Ireland Ltd were appointed as technical consultants for the scheme in October 2019 and works will commence with a comprehensive site walkover and a full review of all available data.

Following the appointment of AECOM, a Steering Group has been formed consisting of representatives from the OPW, DCC and SDCC with DCC selected as the Lead Authority on the scheme.

There have been a number of Steering Group meeting over the past number of months. The collection of records is progressing in relation to mapping, GIS and CCTV. Hydraulic modelling has commenced and some visual inspection work has taken place. In February and March there will be a Risk identification Workshop to assess the risks for the scheme and a hydrology and hydraulic modelling work shop to agree the parameters for this work on the scheme in the coming weeks.

Public engagement events have taken place in Clondalkin and in Kilmanham and there is a Camac Scheme website where everyone can keep up to date with the progress on the scheme. www.camacfas.ie