Council pour cold water on river cleaning following floods

MAYO County Council have poured cold water on a suggestion that rivers should be cleaned to prevent flooding.

Cllr Chris Maxwell told the monthly Westport-Belmullet Municipal District meeting that sheep were nearly drowned as a result of flooding which occurred in the south Clew Bay area during Storm Ashley.

The Louisburgh-based councillor described the flooding that occurred in the Cregganbaun area during the storm as ‘a serious episode’ which left some people unable to get in or out of their houses.

The Independent Ireland politician claimed that the flooding was exacerbated by overgrown trees and bushes in surrounding rivers.

“I seen the stress that was with some people last Friday evening. It was heartbreaking to see it, and I mean that genuinely. There was slatted sheds filled, there was other sheds, everything in them was destroyed, there was a flood of water in them. There was houses, it was ready to come into them,” he said.

Cllr Maxwell added that the flooding demolished fences and left bridges at risk of being ‘taken out’.

“There was sheep…people couldn’t get in to get them out. If it rose any higher, they were gone. They would be down here outside Broadhaven.”

Cllr Maxwell asked that works be undertaken to cut back overgrown trees and hedges in rivers to reduce the risk of future flooding.

“It’s just a terrifying situation, and it’s getting worse because every year the trees are growing more and they are encroaching more.”

Erris-based county councillor Gerry Coyle supported Cllr Maxwell’s suggestion, describing it as ‘a no-brainer’.

Heather Gibbons, area engineer for the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, said that environmental assessments would have to be undertaken to carry out works in the river.

She said that a council engineer in the local authority’s environmental section has given a commitment to carry out environmental assessments for bank cleaning. This would not, however, permit any works to take place in the river itself.

Cllr Maxwell said people were ‘sick and tired’ of environmental regulations delaying the cleaning of rivers.

“I know your hands are tied, but it’s time we stopped all this…I’m a machine driver. We don’t need a feasibility study to tell us we can go in and clean the trees out of the river. It’s like doing the water tables on the side of the road,” he said.

Ms Gibbons insisted that ‘if we don’t adhere to the environmental guidelines we’ll have Europe down on top of us’.

“We’re governed by European legislation on this,” she added.

Carrowholly-based councillor John O’Malley said that allowing greenery to fester in rivers was harming biodiversity and putting septic tanks at risk of flooding.

“What kind of pollution is that, going down in the river? Because eventually, that’s where it will go,” he said.

“They can say what they like about the whole climate change and the whole bit, that wouldn’t be happening if the rivers were cleaned. Because the rivers haven’t been cleaned for 20 years, haven’t been touched.”

The Independent councillor added that wild duck used to swim in a river near his land, but no longer did so due to overgrown trees.

Ms Gibbons said she would relay the councillors’ concerns to the council’s environment section and follow up with them.