CITY TRIBUNE
Seapoint owner told redevelopment proposals ‘must be scaled back’
From the Galway City Tribune – The owner of Seapoint in Salthill has been told to scale back his fresh bid to redevelop the site with a new casino, café and overhead apartments.
Last year, Paul Freeney of Oldside Enterprises Ltd, was refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for a redevelopment which was ruled to be a poor standard of design.
However, in January, he sought permission for a scaled-back redevelopment of numbers 183, 185, 187 and 189 Upper Salthill, which involves:
- The demolition of all buildings on site except the original ballroom building and glass elevator, and the frame of No 183 (in response to concerns raised by planners in the previous application).
- Construction of a new three-storey building with arcade/gaming use on the ground and first floor and six apartments, as well as a landscaped roof terrace.
- Construction of a new three-storey building attached to form a new side facing Salthill Promenade, with the existing single storey building to be demolished. This building will include a café at ground level and a three-bed duplex apartment overhead.
- An enhanced public green space beside the building on lands in City Council ownership.
- Secure store for 18 bicycles and two cargo bikes on the ground floor.
In its refusal last year, An Bord Pleanála said: “It is considered that the proposed development would provide a poor standard of design in the context of the character of the surrounding built environment and public realm amenity areas, resulting from its scale, mass and form, including a lack of coherence provided by the projecting and setback elements.
“[It would] fail to achieve high-quality design to respect the distinctive character of the adjoining properties, and to contribute to improvements to the public realm at a high profile and visually prominent location.”
According to the new application, features of concern to the Board have been removed and “the new build element of the proposed urban design seeks to resonate the art deco design of the Seapoint building”.
The developers added that there would be a 4.2% increase in gaming floorspace on the site.
“It is not considered that the long-established gaming use adversely affects the attractiveness or amenity value of the area. In fact, this long-established form of entertainment is synonymous with Salthill’s traditional status as a seaside resort. It should be noted that the upgrading and reconfiguration of the gaming floorspace within the building will result in a negligible increase in gaming floorspace.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. A one-year digital subscription costs just €89.00. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
“The proposals to improve the public realm of the existing underutilised public green space to the south has been pursued following pre-planning discussions with the Planning Section and the Parks Section [of the City Council].
“The proposal for an adjoining ground floor café, together with a south-facing aspect, will facilitate a highly-desirable and vibrant public realm as promoted in the Galway City Development Plan,” the application reads.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. A one-year digital subscription costs just €89.00. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
However, the City Council has written to Mr Freeney and told him that when calculating the overall floor area of the new premises, an additional basement area had not been included.
Therefore, the proposed development was 20% (or 791 square metres) over the allowable floor area under the City Development Plan.
The applicant was also told that the inclusion of an area of public open space beside the building could not be included in the calculation of plot ratios or open space calculations.
The Council has instructed him to revise the development, and also told him to speak to the Fire Authority about means of escape and access for firefighting.
Planners said there was a lack of clarity about car- and in particular, cycle-parking for residents and visitors and how deliveries will be managed as they were already an issue for the existing development and neighbouring properties.
Mr Freeney now has until mid-September to respond to the Council or the planning application will be deemed to be withdrawn.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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