Sinn Féin councillors demand full investigation into huge landslide in Bray

Sinn Féin councillors John Brady and Rossa Murray have called for a
full investigation into a massive landslide adjacent to a development
that is taking place Brook House School on the Herbert Road in Bray.
The construction site is on the high ground which over looks the
publicly owned Rehills Land beside the river Dargle. The huge
landslide has seen hundreds of tonnes of rock and soil plough down
through a protected forest which has a tree preservation order in
place and has left the area very unstable and prone to further
landslides.

Speaking after raising the issue at the Town Council meeting in Bray
councillor Brady Said "This issue was brought to my attention by
frightened residents who felt their homes shake when the massive
landslide took place. I have visited the site and was shocked at the
scale of the landslide, a large section of the forest was literately
washed away with the landslide, hundreds of tonnes of rock and soil
gave way and ended up on the Rehills land which is down below. Its a
miracle nobody was killed on the site"

Cllr Brady continued "It appears large volumes of excavated soil from
the adjoining development which is beside Brook House School was been
dumped on top of the hill and under the weight the entire hill gave
way. The force of the landslide that ensued uprooted and and carried
large mature trees several hundred metres before being deposited on
the land below. The forest is destroyed, it is supposed to be
preserved with a tree preservation order, however that had little
effect in this case, everything in the way was swept away with the
force of the landslide"

Cllr Rossa Murray went onto say "There are a number of issues here. It
appears that there has been a blatant breech in the planning
permission that was granted for the development adjacent to the
landslide and this has caused the serious problem, this needs to be
followed up by enforcement immediately by the council. There are also
health and safety issues, the site in its current condition is not
secure and is totally unstable and the possibility of a further
landslide is real, i have reported the site to the Health and Safety
Authority such are my concerns about this development and its
condition"

Cllr Brady concluded "At the council meeting i requested a full
engineers report on this serious situation, I have also requested a
remedial plan for the area and report from the planners. It appears
that this incident was down irresponsible activities on site, this has
resulted in the destruction of a protected wooded area which has
deposited hundreds of tonnes of debris on publicly owned land. We
could have been dealing with a entirely different incident here,
thankfully nobody was injured, however there must be answers to the
questions as to how this happened and all costs removing the debris
and restoring the area must be carried by the owners of the
development"