And now, a view from someone who know the area inside - out and who isn ’ t fobbed off easily...
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE IN THIS MONTH ’ S RUSH TIMES,
READ THIS
daily tidal movements were the first they had seen of such water levels in the area.
Cllr. Brian Dennehy Email: Brian.Dennehy@cllrs.fingal.ie
I produced details of all planning permissions granted by FCC to housing along the 2.2 Km stretch, where many are currently in serious danger from coastal erosion due to the increased rising water levels. Many planning permissions were granted very recently and I pointed out that FCC now have a moral obligation to provide coastal erosion prevention measures for these houses. An environmental disaster is inevitable if protection measures are not installed in front of the section of dunes at Rush Golf Club, where less than 30 mtrs of dunes now remain as the only preventative measure to avoid the area involved from being turned into a giant lake. That in turn would put the housing in close proximity to Rush Golf Club in grave danger. The consultants also failed to include any information regarding the possible negative effects created for the Rush area, arising from erosion preventative measures being proposed elsewhere. The idea of carrying out protection measures on one side only and ignoring the opposite side is surely morally wrong and dangerous. The overall concept and ethos of the plan was not to carry out work in one area without working out the negative implications for other areas involved. At the conclusion of my July meeting with the staff and consultants it was agreed that, because of the important issues I had raised regarding the effects at Rush, a further site meeting will take place in September. The South Beach Coastal erosion measures will be back on the drawing board and agenda. The issues I have raised about the seven separate locations involved at South Beach are being taken on board in reviewing the provision of coastal erosion measures required at South Beach, Rush. To date I have not been notified of any change of plan in that regard. I have and will put up a strong argument to promote coastal erosion protection measures on the South Beach Rush.
The recent July meeting of the Fingal Coastal Liaison Group was solely given over to a discussion of the 2.2 km. stretch of the South Beach, Rush and what information the consultants used in determining their findings regarding coastal erosion measures in the area. I pointed out at previous meetings, and through correspondence with the Fingal County Manager, Director of Planning and Chairman of the Coastal Erosion liaison Group, that as far as I was concerned, the report was seriously flawed with regard to the South Beach. It was putting the South Beach in Rush in very serious environmental danger. Throughout the meeting I broke the Beach into several different areas along the 2.2km stretch of beach. I outlined and challenged the information and understanding the consultants had regarding the South Beach. I had compiled a detailed written report on each section of the South Beach and backed everything up with photo ’ s taken on each section. Several of what I would consider as vital items were clearly absent from the research information used in the report. The most important of these being the absence of the findings of the erosion measurement study on the South Beach, Rush, taken in recent years. The black poles used in this research project are still in place now on the South Beach. The consultants were also unaware that the rock armour, placed last year alongside the South Beach Carpark by Irish Water as conditioned by their planning permission for the Rush Sewage Network scheme failed, to survive the storms in January this year. Irish Water had been instructed by FCC to rehabilitate the work. This was carried out onsite recently. The fact that the rock armour failed is proof positive that the area suffers from extreme coastal erosion, as I pointed out at the meeting. I highlighted the case of housing at the Rogerstown end of the South Beach which are extremely vulnerable to coastal erosion. The pictures I produced covering the
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