CITY TRIBUNE
Balls-up!
A city councillor has asked Galway City Council to ensure that any new playgrounds or basketball courts are not located too close to residential areas – complaining that locals near one such facility are upset by “incessant, loud bouncing of basketballs”.
In a submission under the Draft Galway City Development Plan 2023-29, Cllr Terry O’Flaherty said there must be an obligation on the Council to provide such playing facilities, but there should also be an onus on the local authority to ensure they do not have an adverse effect on the quality of life of nearby residents.
She said that such facilities can also be a “magnet for antisocial behaviour”.
Cllr O’Flaherty have the example of the play facilities at Radharc na Gréine on the Monivea Road, which, she said, is very close to the houses and creating disturbances late into the night.
In her submission to City Hall, Cllr O’Flaherty wrote: “There is, without question, an obligation on Galway City Council and all local authorities to provide for the inclusion of proper playing facilities accessible by the residents, particularly children, of any residential development for which planning permission is granted.
“However, there must also be an obligation on the local planning authorities to ensure that any such recreational facilities do not have adverse effects on the quality of life which residents of any nearby homes, pre-existing or new, are entitled to enjoy.
“The Galway City Council Draft City Development Plan 2023-29 includes under ‘Indicative Examples of Recreational Facilities for Different Sizes of Residential Developments’, the provision of a skateboard facility, bowling green and basketball court in developments of 51-100 residential units.
“This was also included in the current Galway City Council Development Plan 2017-23.
“But nowhere is there any stipulation about avoiding inconvenience to people living next to such a basketball court or skateboard facility in the middle of a residential area.
“An example of the problem occurred in the Radharc na Gréine housing estate on the Monivea road, where 54 houses that were constructed for the private market were subsequently purchased by the City Council for local authority housing applicants.
“The playground is very close to the houses, but the real trouble arose with the two basketball courts, which were the cause of a lot of upset to some residents of homes close by, whose lives were negatively affected by the incessant and loud bouncing of basketballs, often late into the night, as well as accompanying loud noises,” Cllr O’Flaherty wrote.
She said it should be a condition of planning that such facilities be located away from housing.
“Recreational facilities such as basketball courts and skateboarding areas should only be located away from homes, at a sufficient distance where the inevitable noise coming from them will not have such an impact on residents.
“Such areas can also be a gathering point or magnet for anti-social behaviour
“While the ambition of the Draft Development Plan to plan properly for recreational facilities, for the younger generation in particular, is laudable, the current policy of locating noise-generating facilities too close to people’s homes will continue to cause upset to residents, resulting in a reduction in their quality of life.
“The provision in future of any such facilities must take into account their potential and likely effect on local residents, and their placing in more suitable locations,” she wrote.
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.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
