Waterville to Ballybrack N70 Road Improvement Scheme
Dear Mr. Ginty,
In the proposed Waterville Development Plan, specifically, KENMD-WE-15, it is KCC's intention to support the N70 Waterville to Ballybrack Road Improvement Plan. As the General Manager of Waterville House & Golf Links, I wish to state in the clearest sense that Waterville House & Golf Links is vehemently opposed to any road improvement scheme that will include a free-standing walkway/cycleway bridge over the Currane River inside the grounds of Waterville House. In the KCC future development plan for Waterville, references are made numerous times that it is a key goal of KCC to promote Waterville as a golfing, angling and general tourist location. The size and scale of this road improvement plan would seem, from our point of view, completely contradictory to this key KCC goal, as this road improvement scheme, should it go ahead as currently proposed, would have a drastically negative business impact on Waterville House & Golf Links, which is the key golfing, angling and general tourism-orientated business in Waterville, and is also -by far- the biggest employer in the town of Waterville, as well being the most recognised Waterville 'brand' around the world.
Waterville House itself is one of the most unique properties in Ireland, and this has attracted many famous people, for example - from Heads of State to sportspersons to tv/film personalities, to stay at Waterville House and enjoy it's many amenities - especially, the world-renowned salmon and trout fishery of the Currane River and the Butler's Pool.
The scale of the road improvement proposed would dramatically take from the uniqueness, privacy and serenity of Waterville House, and it would have a direct detraction to angling on the Currane River. To further compound the overall negative impact of this development on Waterville House, the sensitive ecology of the grounds in and around the Currane river would be adversely and permanently disturbed, incidentally within an area that actually forms part of the Ballinskelligs Bay SAC. Then, any imported infill required in the development of the road improvement project would also have a further negative impact by greatly reducing the over-flow floodplain surrounding the Currane river, significantly increasing the flood-risk and potential damage down-river, to both the historical river weir and to Waterville House itself. It is important to point out that, in this time of global warming and the resulting freak weather, extreme flooding events are becoming more common with each year. The attached pictures show Waterville House, the location of where the proposed bridge is to traverse the river, and the then river itself in normal flow and when in a typical flood.
I would like for KCC and TII to re-think the whole road improvement proposal for this area, and to re-design a road improvement scheme which would include (if necessary at all) the walkway/cycleway bridge on the Lough Currane side of the main Currane river/N70 bridge. If this request is agreeable to KCC & TII, Waterville House & Golf Links will in turn support the Waterville/Ballybrack N70 road improvement scheme.
Kind regards,
Michael Murphy,
General Manager,
Waterville House & Golf Links.
