In 2020, the river Poddle flood alleviation scheme planning application was submitted to An Bord Pleanála for review. At this stage of the process, residents who wished to submit observations had to pay a €50 fee. In 2023, the proposed flood scheme was approved, and, in April 2024, the flood scheme works were launched in Tymon Park, South Dublin. However, if we look at Flood Risk Assessments in planning applications, we can see that the implementation of the flood alleviation scheme was decided and agreed on long before the planning application was submitted to An Bord Pleanála for review! While we are made to believe that our voices count and asked to pay €50 to make them heard, public authorities and private developers are the ones and only decision-makers!

In 2015 for instance, a planning application for a student accommodation in the Liberties was approved on the basis that the river Poddle flood alleviation scheme would soon be completed (planning application reference: 3475/14). The development site intersects with the river Poddle culvert, is located in flood zone B and plans required the diverting of one of the river overflow culverts. The developer was Global Student Accommodation, which is now “located in nine countries with circa $6 billion of assets under management” and the “trusted partner globally to some of the world’s leading institutional investors”. The 2014 Flood Risk Assessment states that “the possible flood risk along Mill Street should be completely mitigated” by the proposed river Poddle flood alleviation scheme, and that based on conversations with Dublin City Council, the scheme “is approximately 2 years from commencement” (consultant: Barrett Mahony). In other words, 9 years prior to the scheme statutory planning approval, developers had already received the assurance that it would be implemented!

Two other developments located in flood zone B and on the 2011 Harold’s Cross flood extent map tell a similar story. The first one is a build-to-rent apartment project led by Dublin and London-based property developer Rivergate Developments. The development was approved in 2019 on the basis that flood risk would be mitigated by the forthcoming river Poddle flood alleviation scheme (planning application reference: 0374/20). However, the Flood Risk Assessment submitted as part of the planning application was produced before the publication of the first official design of the scheme in 2018 and therefore based on initial rough drafts (consultant: JBA). Furthermore, as in the Liberties development case, there are obvious signs of ongoing conversations between the developer’s consultants and public authorities and again it seems taken for granted that the scheme is to be implemented shortly whereas at this time it had not even reached planning submission stage: “Construction is due to begin in 2020, with completion in 2022.”.

The second one, Harold’s Bridge Court, differs slightly in that it was approved in June 2024 so after the commencement of the flood scheme works in April 2024 (planning application reference: LH29S.319421/LRD6036/24-S3). However, the Flood Risk Assessment, published in 2023, refers to similar exchanges between the developer’s consultants and the local authority and to a similar engagement that the proposed flood scheme is to be implemented in the near future before it is formally approved in 2023: “Following discussions with the DCC Flood Defence Projects Office in June 2022 we note these works are now due to commence in 2023.” (consultant: DBFL)

Laure de Tymowski (14 November 2024)