Wednesday 26 September 2012

Salt depot gets green light but will not be ready for winter


The biggest road salt storage depot in Cork is to be built on a strategic site on the city’s northside.
However, city engineers say it will not be ready in time for this winter season.

They hope to issue tenders for the construction of the salt barn within the next few weeks in the hope work could begin in early November. However, it will take several months to build and will not be ready to take delivery of salt stocks until next year at the earliest.

The plans for the depot, which will be able to store up to 1,000 tonnes of road salt, were rubber-stamped at Monday’s city council meeting.

The plans were drawn up under the Part 8 planning process and were advertised in July.

There were no external submissions or objections to the proposed development.

The project came before a full meeting of Cork City Council on Monday, when the project was given the green light.

The 226sq m single-storey concrete building, which will have a a steel roof and a maximum height of 8m, will be built on lands next to Ballyvolane fire station, between Spring Lane/Ballyvolane Rd and the North Ring road.

It will have an equipment storage area and will be monitored by an extensive network of CCTV cameras.

Once it is completed, stocks of road salt, which were previously stored on an open-air site in Mahon, will be stored at this compound.

Cllr Patricia Gosch (FG) said the structure had been well designed to blend in to the landscape.

"This is a very positive development for the northside," she said.

"It will help prevent serious road traffic accidents and hopefully save lives."

Cllr Kenneth O’Flynn (FF) said the strategic location made "perfect sense".

The project is being funded entirely by the National Roads Authority.

Read the article @ The Irish Examiner

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