Intense lobbying needed on Fota Road & Belvelly Bridge issue say Chamber

(LtR) – Brian Curtiss President of Cobh & Harbour Chamber, Eric Downey Vice President & Conference Chair,Mr Brian Hayes Minister of state OPW and John Sweeney Past President

Cobh & Harbour Chamber hosted a conference in the Radisson hotel, Little Island on Flood Risk Management. The Conference was designed to bring all the different disciplines engaged in flood risk management and the after effects of flooding.

Speakers from the OPW, both City & County engineers, Arup engineering, ESB, an Insurance assessor and a flood victim spoke about past events, causes, the building up of a real time data base for river heights, capacity and flow to give a better understanding of the behaviour of water in order to help plan any future developments and future flood risks.

Over 300 projects to alleviate flooding and protect businesses and dwellings around the Country are in various stages ranging from planing to construction . The time frame for completion of these projects is estimated to be three to four years. Regarding the Belvelly flooding of late the County Engineer Mr David Keane said there is a plan in place for a new bridge at Belvelly and realignment of the Fota road however this is held up due to lack of funding and resources. It is Cobh & Harbour Chambers view that Intense lobbying by all the various interests on the island of Cobh, the largest populated island in the Country, is now needed as the Belvelly bridge is the only access to and from the island and poses a danger to the population of the island if an emergency should arise during a flood episode.