While it’s appeared quieter on the flood relief solution front over the past few months there’s has been a lot of work on going in the background. With feasibility and public consultation completed, this phase of the project is about taking public consultation feedback and refining the details to a preferred scheme. It is now all about the detail.
- Refined scheme development
- Field/Impact Assessments
- Produce Environmental Impact Assessment Report
- Final Cost-Benefit analysis
- Produce and run Public Consultation
Scheme Refinement
The Scheme development and refinement is about getting to the next level of detail. The last public consultation drew up indicative routes of channels and flood works – broad-stroke lines on maps and these were presented during the public consultation phase and discussed on many site visits. This (and other inputs e.g. environmental) informed the scheme development and the next phase of development was undertaken to bring more detail to the scheme.
This results in very detailed drawings showing the works, depths, heights, widths of channels etc.
Because this is also a construction project, there are even more details to consider e.g. machinery access, storage, earthworks storage etc.
This obviously constitutes a huge scope of work and there’s a lot of information sharing required with landowners. The project has also appointed an agronomist, John Bligh, who is liaising directly with landowners and walking through details of proposals and making note of feedback.
Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR)
A key input to the EIAR are field assessments – basically going out on the ground and looking at many environmental factors, biodiversity, Noise, landscape, visual impacts, hydrology, Archaeology, salinity modelling etc.
These assessments then inform the actual EIAR, which again will be a substantial body of work.
Final Cost-Benefit Report
Soil and Geology investigations with detailed design drawings can inform the scope of works and final project costs enabling a final Cost-Benefit report to be completed.
Public Consultation
When all the above has been finalized, these will be submitted for final public consultation for several weeks . This consultation will be in a physical venue area rather than online meetings like the previous one.
Timeline
The following is the expected timeline with a goal for this phase to complete in April/May 2023.
| Task | Description | Current Target (Aug 2022) |
|---|---|---|
| Consider Design Changes following GI Considerations | GI ReportGround Water Monitoring | Q3 2022 |
| Field Assessments | Soils, Geology, Hydrogeology Noise and Vibration Landscape & Visual Archaeology, Architectural and Cultural Heritage Biodiversity Salinity Modelling | Q3 2022 Ongoing and will continue to Q3, includes for additional assessments that have been identified) |
| Scheme Development | Refine Emerging Preferred Scheme (post Environmental Baseline Surveys) Additional TCD Model Runs in parallel with scheme development Construction Methodologies Plan and Section Drawings Quantities and Cost Estimates- Updates to above following Scheme Updates | Q3 2022 |
| Final Cost Benefit Analysis Report – | Q4 2022 | |
| Environmental Assessment – | Provide Engineering Info for EIAR/NIS | … |
| Valuation Survey | Aiming for Q1 2023 | |
| Exhibition Documents | Aiming for Q1 2023 | |
| Public Exhibition | Q1 / Q2 2023 |
Summary
We acknowledge that this process is slower than expected but the project is progressing in the right direction. We are getting a glimpse of the level of details that are required to implement this scheme. The project agronomist, John Bligh, is continuing his visits to landowners over the coming weeks and feedback from many landowners is surprise of the level of detailed information that is now being provided.
There may be further updates in the coming weeks and if we we’ll keep you posted!
-David Murray, on behalf of South Galway Flood Relief Committee (SGFRC)
South Galway Floods 