Council members hear of plans for climate change

Measures being taken in anticipation of the challenges that climate change are going to bring have been outlined to members of Westmeath County Council.

Local authorities have accepted that climate change is going to bring “significant risk” to both regional and local roads, members of the county council’s Environment, Climate Action Water and Emergency SPC heard from council official Jonathan Deane at their October meeting last week.

To deal with this, a working group has been set up under the auspices of the Climate Action Regional Office (CARO) to work out strategies for dealing with the issue.

The flooding expected to result from increasing rainfall levels is another area on which CARO is focused and a further of its projects involves consideration of flood alleviation schemes.

Another move is to see increased attention to recording severe weather events. To this end, a new app has been launched – Weather Impacts Register (WIRE) – to enable local authority staff log events of significance. This data will then be used to identify areas at risk.

Mr Deane told members that in August, the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine announced its ‘Woodland Creation on Public Lands Scheme’. This was a generous scheme, he said, aimed at focusing on planting deciduous trees.

Mr Deane explained that CARO has been looking at strategies to improve electric vehicle use, and also, at the introduction of a consistent system for vehicle charging; and along with that, introduction of electric vehicles into the council’s own fleet.

Continuing, he said that the government’s Climate Action plan requires that each local authority identify and develop plans for one decarbonised town. CARO is currently coming up with a document that will outline how this will work.

Cllr Hazel Smyth asked that the council inform councillors what lands were in its ownership that could be used for afforestation.

She also stressed the importance of climate change training for councillors and said too that it was important that the council was prepared to take up any funding opportunities that come from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).

SPC member Jack O’Sullivan stated that a grant had been allocated by the SEAI to the Columb Barracks Restoration and Rejuvenation Committee towards the establishment of a sustainable energy community within Columb Barracks.

“We have now appointed a firm to produce a sustainable energy masterplan,” he said, adding that the aim is not only to transform it into a sustainable energy community, but a “zero energy” community that would link out to others living in the locality.

On the question of roads, he suggested that waste rubber be added to the asphalt, since this improves grip and durability; he also proposed that this country make greater use of timber as a construction material.

SPC chairman, Cllr Frank McDermott was also strongly in favour of the use of hardwoods as a building material.