Minister Howlin confirms River Bandon (Bandon) Flood Relief Scheme

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin TD, today (05 April 2016) announced that he has considered the report of the consultants appointed to review the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the River Bandon (Bandon) Flood Relief Scheme and is now in a position to confirm the scheme.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has advised that it will comply with the conditions attached to the confirmation subject to certain clarifications which have been accepted by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The order confirming the scheme will be published later this week in the local media.

A statutory 8-week period of public notice of the confirmation decision must be observed, following which works may commence, subject to completion of the construction procurement process.

The review of the EIS for flood schemes by the minister is part of a new process introduced under EU Regulations and the Bandon Scheme is just the third Scheme to undergo such a review. The Clare River (Claregalway) Scheme and the River Ilen (Skibbereen) Scheme were the first schemes to which this requirement applied.

Welcoming the scheme, Minister Howlin said:

"I am delighted to be in a position to confirm the River Bandon Flood Scheme having seen at first hand the devastation caused to Bandon by last winter’s floods.

"The details of the confirmation are available on the website. Advertisements to this effect will be placed in the local media and also in Iris Oifigiúil in the coming days."

The scheme is confirmed in accordance with the provisions of the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Arterial Drainage) Regulations 2012.

The regulations provide that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform shall consider the environmental impact statement submitted as part of a proposed drainage or flood risk management scheme and determine whether that environmental impact statement adequately identifies, describes and assesses the direct and indirect effects of the proposed scheme.

Bandon Town has a long history of serious flooding, most recently last winter. Flooding is primarily due to heavy rainfall in the catchment area of the Bandon River and of its tributary, the Bridewell River which joins the Bandon River immediately downstream of Bandon Bridge.

The proposed Bandon Flood Relief Scheme has evolved through an initial screening process of a range of potential measures typically considered for flood alleviation schemes, the development of potential options and finally the development of a preferred scheme design.

The preferred scheme will consist of a combination of flood defences with dredging of the river bed.

It is proposed to dredge the river bed to a level of 9.5 metres downstream of the weir (approximately 1.8m below the existing bed level) in the town and at a grade of 1/1000 until it reaches the existing bed level a distance of 3.6 kilometres downstream of the town.

New flood defences will also be constructed to contain flood water within the Bandon and Bridewell River as well as the Mill Stream.

In summary, the preferred flood relief scheme will involve the following proposed works:

• deepening of the existing riverbed by 1.8 metres just downstream of Bandon Weir to 9.5 metres
• dredging for 3.6 kilometres (to O’Driscoll’s Bridge) at a gradient of 1/1000
• approximately 150,000m3 of material to be dredged
• provision of a new rock ramp fish pass and counter at Bandon weir
• provision of new fish passes at the Mill Stream and the Bridewell River confluences with the Bandon River
• underpinning of Bandon Bridge
• replacement of the pedestrian bridge with a new pedestrian bridge
• the provision of flood defence walls at various locations on the right and left banks of the *Bandon River
• the provision of flood defence walls on the left and right banks of the Bridewell River
• the provision of flood defence embankments on the right and left banks of the Bandon River and locally on the Mill Stream at its confluence with the Bandon River
• improvement to some of the existing flood defences on the Bandon and Bridewell Rivers
• new culvert on Mill Stream
• surface water drainage