Planning for slipway upgrade
Planning has been granted for the upgrade of an existing boat slipway at the Inland Fisheries Ireland base at Mullaghboy, near Kilnaleck.
The proposed development will consist of an extension in length to the existing slipway to make it more usable in low water conditions.
The addition of a bumper to the existing quay wall will reduce damage to tied up boats meanwhile.
An Appropriate Assessment and a Natura Impact Statement were prepared and submitted with the Inland Fisheries Ireland application.
Dated November 2021 and compiled by KD Environmental, the NIS outlined how by carrying out the works IFI intends to create a covered works area on the shore of Lough Sheelin.
The proposed location for works is within a Natura 2000 Protected Site, and therefore any development is subject of an Appropriate Assessment screening and must also comply with the Habitats as well as Birds directives.
The slipway will provide space for IFI Patrol Boats and Stock Management boars, and also for angling boats to access Lough Sheelin.
The proposed extension will require the removal of stone and sediment from the bottom of the quay.
Approximately five tonne of material will be removed from the bed over an area of six metres by six metres.
This material will be set aside on land adjacent.
The edge of the existing slipway will be cut out to accommodate a steel RSJ support frame, and a steel RSJ will be lifted into place with the bottom lip resting onto the crushed bed of stone to prevent the concrete slab slipping.
Finally concrete slats will be place onto the steel RSJ frame and the top of the steel frame will be held in place with ready mix concrete.
IFI have stated that no concrete will be poured over wet areas or directly over water.
A consultant engineer meanwhile will be contracted by the IFI to complete the draft plans for the slipway design and boat mooring upgrade using fixed plastic bump rails and cheats for mooring, as per previous designs utilised by the waterways organisation in the past.