Appeals Board allows changes at Salthill hotel

Galway Bay Fm newsroom – Plans to retain changes to parking facilities at Salthill Court Hotel have been given the go-ahead following a first party appeal.
An Bord Pleanala has given its approval subject to seven conditions.
In January, city planners gave the go-ahead to retain the raised deck on the front terrace as a landscaped area.
However an application for the reduction of the total number of parking spaces to 258 spaces, which would mean omitting previously permitted ‘stacker’ units, was refused.
The applicant Richard Byrne appealed this decision stating that the stacker units would involve considerable expense and would be difficult to operate.
He also states that the hotel has worked satisfactorily with the existing number of spaces.
In granting the appeal, the Board said that having regard to the existing and well-established use of the site, the proposed development would not seriously injure the visual or residential amenity.
It was granted subject to seven conditions.