SEA Environmental Report for the Draft Cork City Development Plan 2022-2028
need improvement in order to comply with the objectives of the WFD. The Draft Plan includes provisions that will contribute towards improvements in the status of waters. There is historic and predictive evidence of elevated levels of flood risk from fluvial and coastal sources at various locations across the City.
substances into the sea. The Directive applies to the aquatic habitat of bivalve and gastropod mollusks only (includes oysters, mussels, cockles, scallops and clams). It does not include crustaceans such as lobsters, crabs and crayfish. There are four Shellfish Areas downstream of the Plan area: Cork Great Island North Channel; Rostellan North; Rostellan South; and Rostellan West.
There are also a number of RPAs in the City designated by virtue of their value to biodiversity - these are addressed under Section 4.6.6. 4.9.8 Flooding Certain areas across the City are at risk from flooding from sources including groundwater, pluvial 43 , fluvial 44 and coastal 45 . There is historic evidence of flooding in various locations across the City, including along the Rivers Blackwater, Bandon and Lee, Glashaboy Estuary, Lee Estuary and Lough Mahon. Predictive OPW Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment mapping for the City is shown on Figure 4.16 46 , indicating areas likely to be at most risk of flooding. Locations within and adjacent to the City that were identified by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in 2012 as requiring detailed assessment of flood risk (Areas for Further Assessment) include: Glanmire; Cork City; Douglas; Togher; and Tower. Detailed predictive flood risk mapping is now available for these areas. A Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA), as required by ‘The Planning System and Flood Risk Management Guidelines for Planning Authorities’ (DEHLG and OPW, 2009), is being undertaken alongside the preparation of the SEA and the preparation of the Plan. This assessment considers available and emerging information on historical and predictive flood risk indicators. 4.9.9 Existing Problems Subject to exemptions provided for by Article 4 of the WFD, based on available water data, certain surface and groundwater bodies will 43 Resulting from high intensity rainfall events where run- off volume exceeds capacity of surface water network. 44 Watercourse capacity is exceeded or the channel is blocked and excess water spills from the channel onto adjacent floodplains. 45 Resulting from higher sea levels than normal causing the sea to overflow onto land. Such flooding is influenced by high tide level, storm surges and wave action.
46 This mapping shows the likelihood of flooding from a number of sources, defined as the percentage probability of a flood occurring in any given year. For example, a 1% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) indicates the severity of a flood that is expected to be exceeded on average once in 100 years, i.e. it has a 1 in 100 (1%) chance of occurring in any one year.
CAAS for Cork City Council
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