Recent erosion of sea cliffs close to Greystones harbour village has exposed waste, leading to concerns a former town dump on top is falling into the sea.
The old dump was operated by Wicklow County Council in the 1960s and 1970s. Private-sector operators and households also used the facility, which took construction and demolition waste, as well as household and industrial refuse.
In recent days, walkers on the beach underneath have met signs indicating a public path from the harbour marina to the north beach was closed. Visible waste falling as part of the collapse of soft clay cliffs appears to be construction and demolition-type material. It includes clay and plastic pipes, electrical wiring, concrete, blue and black plastic and metal poles and ropes.
Further along the north beach, substantial blocks of reinforced concrete have also fallen on to the beach, believed locally to be part of an outfall from a decommissioned wastewater treatment plant.
RM Block
“I have been asking Wicklow County Council about an agreement between the council and the developers of the harbour marina that shale on the north beach would be replenished over a 30-year period,” said Independent councillor Tom Fortune. “I want to know was that done.”
He noted a large rock barrier which was installed on the beach at the time of the harbour development was protecting the development, but the clay cliffs to the north of this barrier were exposed.
Local environmental volunteer Keith Scanlon posted some photographs of the erosion on the community social media page, Green Greystones. Scanlon said the erosion was visible just north of the rock revetment that protects the marina village. He said he had watched the cliffs fall and the waste tumble down “in real time”.
“It is disturbing as well because the sand martin nests there, and lots of other wildlife,” he said.
It is the latest instance of coastal erosion to cause local concern. Separately, the council has published photographs of another site closer to Bray Head, encompassing a section the Greystones-to-Bray cliff walk, warning of the potential for imminent collapse. The walk has been officially closed by the council for the last five years.
Friends of the Cliff Walk, a group campaigning for its reopening, has said the potential of further slippage in the area was already well known. The group has called on the council to acquire nearby land to reposition the path as a temporary measure while more permanent solutions were worked out. “Weather is not the only cause: neglect has made it worse,” the group said.
In a statement relating to concerns about the disused dump, the council said it would “arrange for a site inspection to confirm the precise location referenced and to assess the materials that may have become exposed as a result of recent erosion”.
The council noted the former Greystones wastewater treatment plant was located in the general vicinity. “At this stage it is considered unlikely that the materials referenced are associated with a historic dump site; however, this will be further clarified following inspection.”
The statement added that the area was “subject to ongoing beach nourishment and maintenance works undertaken by developer Sispar as part of the marina development, which are intended to help manage coastal processes and reduce erosion along this section of coastline”.
Sispar said it commissioned annual surveys of the beach and “campaigns of beach nourishment have been undertaken as required”.
A spokesman said: “The design and construction [of coastal protection works] incorporate rock revetment to ensure that no erosion of the old municipal dump occurs.”
Under a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement between the council and Sispar, the council acquired about 33 acres of foreshore, including the then crumbling Victorian harbour and adjacent land which included the old dump.
Signed in December 2007, the agreement provided for some 350 new houses and apartments. The council provided the land and planning permission while Sispar was responsible for the design, construction and financing of the project. Sispar also manages the marina, with ownership set to revert to the council after a 30-year period commencing in 2016.
According to the Greystones Harbour website, 9,000 cubic metres of landfill material from the old dump was removed and the area sealed using a “geosynthetic lining system and spreading of cell-capping material and landscaping and seeding” to form part of a public park. The website said there were also “protection works to eliminate future coastal erosion along the boundary of the old dump location”.
