Louth County Council's coastal protection works plans approved

An Bord Pleanála has approved plans by Louth County Council to undertake coastal protection works on a short section of coastline which is located within the Carlingford Shore Special Area of Conservation.

The site is located along the shoreline of Carlingford Lough in the townland of Drummullagh, around 800m north of Omeath village. The proposed coastal protection works involve the following:

• Removal of existing rock armour over the works footprint (40m long x 2.75mwide) and temporary storage of the rock armour at a designated storage area above the High Water Mark.
• Excavation of a trench c. 2.75m wide x 1m deep over the works footprint and temporary storage of excavated material within the works area.
• Installation of a concrete footing, c. 1m wide to a depth of 0.45m – 0.6m for a length of 40m on the seaward side of an existing boundary wall to provide increased protection for the wall foundations.
• Placement of a layer of geotextile membrane within the excavated trench to mitigate against fines migration.
• Placement of rock armour within and above the excavation to form a coastal defence barrier in front of the boundary wall.

An Bord Pleanála approved the plans on 17 January, subject to seven planning conditions, among them, that no site preparation, excavation or construction works take place between 1 September and 31 March, in the interest of protecting wintering bird species.