Village is hammered by floods.

Coachford Village was a very real  victim of the recent heavy rain. Torrents of water washed through the village on December 29th as the drainage system was yet again unable to handle the rainfall. Shores throughout the main street exploded with waves of water and were churning out sewage and water for the week . The council had to call in a drainage company to pump water and sewage from one drain to another for eight days. There was a lot of anger in the village over this flooding which has now become a major health issue as raw sewage continued to erupt though the shores all week.Community Council member , Peter Dineen said ” Ineptness and inaction caused Coachford to flood this week. This village is not on the very shoreline of the Bandon or Lee rivers yet tonight once again rivers of water flowed through houses and businesses and the owners could only stand there watching as their possessions and livelihoods were washed away. This flooding of our village is a regular occurrence and despite numerous representations over the years from individuals and groups nothing has been done to alleviate the flooding issues in the village. This has been ongoing for over 25 years and people are very angry. Our businesses pay rates, our resident’s pay property tax but it doesn’t seem to matter. The council, councillors and Dail deputies continue to ignore the plight of those living and working in Coachford. So as elderly residents try and salvage their belongings and as businesses count the cost of this year’s flooding the authorities will continue to ignore the drainage and related flooding issues of a small village in Mid Cork.. Surely it is now time once and for all that this issue is addressed. Everyone is well aware that the amounts of rain were exceptional but we have a small drain running underneath our village, not a river and the council need to fix it and Irish Water need to fast track the promised improvements .Our businesses have reopened again and are  doing their very best to trade but they are doing so with one hand behind their back due to the ineptness and inaction of the people who are supposed to be helping us.”  The roads around the village are in a very dangerous state of disrepair and many drivers are facing hefty bills for replacement of tyres and repairs to the suspensions. Some local roads are impassable as the tarmac has been washed away while the main R618 and R619 need to be tacked with extreme caution. The Footpath by the GAA pitch remains underwater all winter but this is hardly surprising as repairs and improvements to this section have never been carried out since it was first built by the ESB in the 1950s to facilitate the flooding of the Lee Valley.

Cork Local Area Plans

The Aghabullogue Coachford Rylane Community Council are encouraging everyone to invest in their future by making submissions to the Cork County Council Local Area Plans.

Cork County Council has commenced the process of preparing new Municipal District Local Area Plans which will set out the planning strategy and land use zoning for the villages and towns of the county. This is your opportunity to participate in the review process.Individuals and groups can make submissions before January 25th 2016.

The Local Area Plans will deal with issues such as:
• The availability of land for housing.
• The availability of land for employment uses.
• Need for new Infrastructure.
• Strengthening village centres.
• Community Facilities including schools and playgrounds
• Green Infrastructure.
• Transport and Mobility.
• Flooding.
• The need to conserve the environment.
For more info visit the Coachford News webpage or visit corkcoco.ie

Point to Point cancelled

Aghabullogue Point to Point racing scheduled to take place this Sunday has been cancelled. The annual  horse racing event  is  hugely popular within the  community and is looked forward to by everyone. The organisers were forced to take the decision to cancel this year’s racing due to the recent inclement weather and were unable to reschedule as the Munster Point to Point calendar is a very hectic one and an alternative date could not be found.

Coachford AFC

The local soccer club hope to get some boots back on the playing pitch this weekend after a very long forced period of inaction due to the heavy rainfall. The Premier team will entertain  Carrigtwohill in the league on Saturday at 2pm in the league. The Under 15s will also play their first game of 2016 at home when they take on Carrigaline on Saturday morning at 11.45am.

Lotto

There was no winner of the €1,600 jackpot in the Coachford AFC lotto this week. The numbers drawn were  9, 14 and 28. The €40 spot prize was won by Noreen & Ross Mulligan while €20 spot prizes went to Denis & Mim O’Connell, John Jnr Murphy, Mags and the ‘Lotto Ladies’. Next week’s Jackpot is €1,800 and the draw takes place in O’Callaghan’s Bar.

Aghabullogue Camogie

Many congratulations to all the Aghabullogue camogie players from u6 up to U10 who received medals from Cork dual star hero Rena Buckley who took time out of her ever so busy schedule  to be at the hugely enjoyable event in Coachford GAA hall last weekend. Danny “Zumba” kept the girls fit and healthy before they dived into the treats that were laid out for them. Club Chairperson , Evelyn Tarrant said “A special word of thanks to those who took the time out to coach and train these teams. Much more help is required so please let us know if you could help out in any way. Finally many thanks to the parents of all the girls who train and play within these age groups The girls will benefit so much from team sports and I would encourage you to keep them interested.”

Disposal of Champagne Bottles.

Coachford  Tidy Towns are urging people to continue to  recycle throughout the New Year. Chairperson Martha McCaffery said ” We are asking everyone to make sure they do their very best to dispose of their bottles, cans, and other recyclable materials carefully as they finally say goodbye to the Christmas and New Year festivities. There are bottle banks in Coachford, Aghabullogue, Macroom Ballincollig and Inniscarra so if you one find one full there are always other options. We would also ask you not to leave full or empty containers by the bottle banks. Think Green this New Year.”

Vintage run

Congratulations to Tim Flanagan and Mike O Shea who organised a very successful Vintage run on December 28th in aid of Penny Dinners. Over 50 vehicles took part in the run to Blarney Castle and great fun and craic was enjoyed by all. The run raised over €1,200 for Cork Penny Dinners.