Minutes of the Special Meeting of Kilkee Town Council held on Tuesday 12th February 2008 at the Sweeney Memorial Library, Kilkee

Cathaoirleach sa Cathair: Cllr. P.J. Linnane

I Láthair:

Cllr. Tom Nolan, Cllr. Michael McGrath, Cllr. Lily Marrinan Sullivan, Cllr. Michael Martin, Cllr. Carmel Deloughery, Cllr. Brian Keane

Apologies:

Cllr. P.J Lardner

I Láthair:

David Timlin, Director of Service & Town Manager
Derek Troy, Executive Engineer
Siobhán O’Keeffe, A/Town Clerk

1. Storm Line in connection with Convent Development

David Timlin, Town Manager, addressed the meeting, summarising the planning history in relation to this storm line and convent development, the existing bathing water regulations & An Taisce’s blue flag beach criteria, the regulation of Victoria stream since 1999, the practice for dealing with storm water and the preliminary report for Kilkee sewerage scheme which is currently with the department for approval. The advice he had from the Engineering staff is that this pipe will replace the existing unsatisfactory storm drainage pipe in the area of the Carrigaholt Road Roundabout and adjacent roads and car parking areas. Derek Troy also made available to the meeting copies of photographs that indicated at least 20 existing storm water flows through the sea wall. David Timlin thanked Derek for the considerable amount of work he had carried out in the past week since the matter came up at the February monthly meeting.

Cllr. Linnane advised that in line with standing orders, 5 members of Kilkee Town Council voted in favour to receive a deputation without notice from Kilkee Chamber of Commerce. Cllr. Linnane welcome members of the Chamber of Commerce and invited a maximum of 3 speakers to address the meeting. Elaine Hayes addressed the meeting and said that the chamber of commerce strongly objected to any additional untreated water to flow onto the beach making reference to an EU Directive. She said that the appearance and size of the pipe itself was extremely ugly. She said that they had no problem with storm water but that it should be directed elsewhere and that Clare County Council should be closing discharge outlets not opening them.

John Williams also addressed the meeting on behalf of Kilkee Chamber of Commerce. He said that in all his years with the chamber he had never encountered such anger locally from the ratepayers. He said that they would not accept any more outlets onto the beach, that outlets should be reduced and not added to. He said that put simply this new pipe could not remain.

The Manager clarified that this storm line is a new opening but that the existing opening, which it is replacing, will be closed. Derek Troy said the Council will ensure that the final appearance is acceptable and fits in with the appearance of the surrounding wall, as indeed is set out in the approved drawings. The Manager indicated that the advice he had was that there were difficulties with redirecting the storm water relating to levels and capacity. He said that An Taisce have confirmed that they can monitor the discharge if they see fit and that can be raised when the monitoring season commences.

During the course of the special meeting, Councillors Nolan, Marrinan Sullivan, McGrath, Martin, Linnane & Keane all made contributions as follows:They said that it is totally unacceptable to run water from a private development onto a foreshore and expressed fears that a precedent is being set for further discharges onto the beach. It was stressed that Kilkee is the premier resort in Ireland and that Clare County Council is not taking cognisance of this. The fact that it is in place now does not mean that it has to stay, an alternative solution must be found. The following questions were raised by elected members:

Was a foreshore licence applied for?Is there any question of attenuation areas? Is there a petrol interceptor?
Did the plans for this development specify the location of the storm line pipe? Is there a quick solution to this problem?

David Timlin, Town Manager advised that to the best of his knowledge a foreshore licence is not required in this instance, but will check. He said that it was not possible to take all water to one point, and that normal practice was carried out stressing that this is not sewerage. Derek Troy, Town Engineer clarified that the plans submitted by the developers did show the exact location of the pipe, and that the sea-wall facing has to be done.

The elected members invited Cllr. Brian Meaney, Cllr. Madeline Taylor Quinn and Cllr. Keane to address the meeting. Cllr. Meaney referred to the beach byelaws adopted by Clare County Council and that Kilkee were not covered under those bye-laws, and that it is within the remit of Kilkee Town Council to direct Clare County Council to remove this pipe. He said that it seemed very clear to him that there was a consensus among the elected members of Kilkee Town Council that they are no longer willing to accept any further discharges onto the beach and that they are the policy makers. He pointed out that An Taisce will just look at water quality but that as a result of climate change there is a very different discharge impression now and that Kilkee Town Council and Clare County Council must be cognisant of this changing climate and changed times. Cllr. Taylor Quinn confirmed that she had not made representations on behalf of this planning application. She said there would be a significant impact on the sand line with the additional volume of storm water from the development and that it would have to be removed. She said that it would come down to cost and suggested that Kilkee Town Council pass a resolution to for a request for funding to the department to provide an alternative outlet for storm water but that in the meantime the storm water from this pipe would have to be diverted. She said she would raise this issue at the Electoral Area meeting also. Cllr. Keane said that he recognised this is as a serious problem having listened to the concerns of people. He said it was critical that nothing is done that would jeopardise the blue flag beach status. He said that funding will be issue but that before any funding comes through for a long-term solution, a solution must be found locally for the short term.

In conclusion, Cllr. Marrinan Sullivan requested an assurance that no water would flow from this pipe until this council is informed of a solution. Cllr. Nolan said that central to this issue was that this had happened before and so was unforgivable that it would happen again, it is against the law and is intuitively wrong. It is time for a commitment that this will not happen again and that another way will be found. Cllr. Linnane said that Kilkee Town Council is not prepared to wait for department approval for additional funding to rectify this situation, that a solution must be found locally, acknowledging that it will need an engineering solution.

David Timlin, Town Manager concluded by saying that he could not find any breach of existing legislation but confirmed that Clare County Council will look at immediate practical works that can be done, that local engineers Derek Troy and Eamon O’Dea will work closely with the water services section of Clare County Council and will revert back to the March meeting of Kilkee Town Council.
As there was no further business the meeting concluded.

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Cathaoirleach

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A/Town Clerk