Funding is a positive step, says erosion committee in Strandhill
THE Strandhill Coastal Erosion Committee have welcomed the allocation of €72,000 to Sligo County Council by the Office of Public Works (OPW) which will be used to fund a new coastal erosion study in Strandhill and Easkey.
The funding is for the council to produce a study which will be called the ‘Sligo Bay Coastal Erosion and Flood Risk Management Study’ and this funding will be valid for a period up to November 15. The Strandhill committee, which comprises Neil Byrne, Sean Conlon, Blaine Gaffney and Cllr Sinead Maguire, said: “This is the first positive step that needs to be taken, when a populated coastal area like Strandhill is seeking to draw down larger allocations of funding for physical coastal protection works from the OPW’s Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme.”
The area in Strandhill left unprotected runs along the Cummeen Strand-Drumcliffe Bay (Sligo Bay) special area of conservation (SAC) stretching from the caravan park to waste treatment plant. It is roughly 30% of the Strandhill shoreline. A committee statement said: “We have worked together for the last year to highlight to Sligo County Council’s executive the damage occurring to the seafront in Strandhill due to coastal erosion, both in the unprotected and protected areas, the concerns regarding the potential damage to critical infrastructure and the SAC in the area and the need for greater action on the issue by the local authority.
“The area that has been left unprotected has suffered significant damage in recent years from storms which resulted in several breaches and actual flooding in the SAC area, significant increase in footfall due to success of the Wild Atlantic Way and the success of the new walkway due to the absence of a recognised path has resulted in ad-hoc paths been created in the SAC. “As a result of the ongoing damage to the SAC by coastal erosion, critical infrastructure in the area behind it is now at risk from flooding and action is needed to protect this area going forward.
“The sub-committee welcomes this €72,000 allocation by the OPW as a first step towards achieving its main goal of drawing down large scale funding under the OPW’s ‘Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme’. This is needed to fund the required works to protect the SAC, the critical infrastructure in the area and also to enable the Strandhill shoreline from the access ramp at the beach up to the entrance of the Killaspugbrone Loop to become more accessible to all.” They thanked the council, Minister Patrick O’Donovan and the OPW for this allocation.
The group also welcomes the decision of the OPW to include Strandhill in its Coastal Monitoring Survey Programme from 2021 onwards which will ensure that Strandhill is now regularly surveyed and inspected by the OPW in order to continually asses the coastal damage, changes to sea levels, sufficiency of costal protections in place and to monitor the levels of coastal erosion and the effectiveness of new defences in Strandhill.