At a recent meeting of Wicklow County Council at which the Draft Development Plan for Arklow Environs was discussed by councillors, Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca claimed that the plan was not strong enough in relation to flood protection.

“I am aware that despite many promises made in 2002 by politicians who belong the current Government to fund flood protection works for Arklow, the necessary funding has not been provided” says de Burca. “Now we have a new Draft Plan for the Environs of Arklow being drafted which lacks adequate safeguards in relation to flood protection”.

The Green Party councillor points out that the section of the Draft Plan that deals with flood protection states: “Appropriately designed development which is not sensitive to the effects of flooding may be permissible in flood plains provided it does not reduce the flood plain area or otherwise restrict flow across flood plains”.

De Burca asked council officials to clarify what kind of development was “not sensitive to the effects of flooding”. She pointed out that the guidelines of the Office of Public Works concerning building on floodplains states that only developments such as playing pitches, open space, car- parks and certain types of warehouses are suitable for floodplains.

“I am very concerned that this Draft Plan is deliberately using vague and unspecific language to allow a much wider range of development to proceed on flood plains and in flood sensitive areas in the Arklow Environs” says de Burca. “Why is it that our local authorities appear to be unable to resist zoning floodplains for development even though they know that climate change will drastically increase the incidence of flooding over the coming years, and that international best practice states that flood plains should not be developed? We will live to regret these irresponsible planning practices in the future” she warned.

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Press Release by Deirdre