Silverstrand boardwalk plan stalled by lack of funds

Work on the proposed €10m-plus extension of Salthill Promenade to Silverstrand is unlikely to start within the next 18 months.

And if the City Council eventually secures funding for the project extended walkway, it will only proceed on a phased basis.

The scheme also involves protection works on a stretch of coast which was battered by the Winter storms of 2013/14.

A spokesperson for the Council said that, contrary to a statement issued by Fine Gael Deputy Brian Walsh this week, the authority has received no notification that a foreshore licence for the work has been granted.

“The foreshore licence will only be approved when actually signed by the Minister. Our environmental team is in regular contact with his office, and there has been no official word.

“It will only ever be done as a phased project, and will take a number of years to complete.

“We’ve taken on RPS Consulting Engineers to progress designs, which should be completed this year.

“But you cannot go to tender unless you have the money. Funding would come from the Department and the City Council, but we already have our own financial constraints.

“It would be premature to speculate on when work would start, but it would be fair to say completion is several years away bearing in mind there’s no funding in place,” the spokesperson said.

Original estimates were that the project would cost around €7m to complete, however, this is now believed to have risen to in excess of €10m.

An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) – carried out for the local authority in 2006 – found that without erosion prevention work, Silverstrand beach would be eradicated within 25 to 40 years, while the Knocknagoneen drumlin beside it would be cut off from the mainland.

According to the EIS, the first stage at Knocknagoneen drumlin would involve the construction of a walkway and a rock armour revetment or a mound of large permeable rocks which reduce the erosive power of the waves by means of wave energy dissipation in the gaps.

The second stage would include a revetment and walkway at Gentian Hill, including the installation of the two footbridges; while the third would be the construction of the walkways linking the revetments and footbridges to form a continuous coastal walkway to Silverstrand.