Appendices
Including SEA, AA and SFRA
Submission from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (submission 395)
Issues / Recommendations / Observations
Chief Executive’s Response & Recommendation
To preserve all public rights of way in Cork City, encourage opportunities to enhance existing or create new rights of way to improve access to green and blue infrastructure and prohibit development that would adversely impact the routes. To ensure that development proposals affecting designated sites have regard to the sensitivities identified in the SEA Environmental Report prepared in respect of this Plan. The Draft Plan is not proposing a tidal barrier and a tidal barrier is not required by the existing flood risk management framework of policies, strategies, plans and programmes. It is also likely that any tidal barrier that may be required in the future would be located in the jurisdiction of Cork County Council. Objective 10.34 “Perimeter flood defence and flood storage” states: “It is an objective of Cork City Council to provide a perimeter flood defence to protect the South Docks from tidal and fluvial flooding building on, where appropriate, SUDS, amenity and heritage while embracing the river. To provide a perimeter flood defence necessary to protect the North Docks from tidal and fluvial flooding and incorporate this into the North Docks Masterplan and Public Realm Strategy. To ensure the provision of appropriate levels of flood volume storage on sites and development to incorporate that provision with compatible uses and urban landscape design in accor dance with best practice.”
Implications for Cork Harbour SPA of development in flood-prone areas Areas of the City Centre and City and Tivoli Docks, within existing and future flood risk zones (Strategic Flood Risk Assessment maps, pp. 37, 39, 43 & 45), are zoned for new mixed use and residential development (Objectives 10.18, 10.42 andMap 01 ZO2, ZO5, ZO8; Map 05: ZO4). There is an extensive City flood relief project in place, and much of the City Docks area is in a polder, protected by an embankment flood defence to the north between the development site and the River Lee. However, given the number of positive feedbacks which are occurring with climate change processes involved in sea-level rise, it is very likely that in the future additional flood relief measures will be required. Scientific predictions for sea level rise above current levels, if emissions continue unmitigated, vary from 0.6 – 1.3m by 2100 and 1.6 – 5.6m by 23003, and IPCC predictions now being suggested to be too low4.
3 Horton, B.P., et al. (2020) Estimating global mean sea-level rise and its uncertainties by 2100 and 2300 from an expert survey. Climate and Atmospheric Science 3: no. 18. 4 E.g. Grinsted, A. and Christensen, J.H. (2021) The transient sensitivity of sea level rise. Ocean Science 17: 181-186.
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