Builders sent back to drawing board on housing plan

Plans by a major Galway property development company to get ‘back in action’ have been stalled, after city planners ordered a redesign of proposals for 18 new houses on the Cappagh Road.

Kenny Developments sought permission in July for the development on the 1.65 acre site at Lenabower, which is adjacent to Cappagh Park.

The application is for:
■ 14 four-bed semi-detached homes which will be two-and-a-half storeys in height
■ 3 four-bed detached, also two-and-a-half storeys in height
■ 1 five-bed house that is partly two-and-a-half and partly two storeys high
■ Surface parking for 36 cars and a new entrance junction from Cappagh Road

However, planners sent the developers back to the drawing board, pointing out that some of the site is zoned for Recreation and Amenity use, which should be omitted.

“The omission of the RA zoned lands will lead to a redesign of the northern housing element, in this case the Planning Authority has concerns with regards to remainder of the northern element of the site which abuts the entrance to the park,” planners said.

They ordered an alternative housing plan be prepared “which would provide for dwellings/apartments which would have an open shared open space which would address the park entrance, public roadway and housing estate, while allowing for an open/low hedge boundary with the park, in addition to the provision of direct pedestrian access to the footpath leading to the park”.

They have also sought clarification on whether Kennys still own a 3.4 acre site to the north, where they were previously refused permission for 48 new houses and apartments.

Two objections have been lodged to the application by individual residents on the Cappagh Road, on the grounds that the house types proposed are not compatible with the existing streetscape; that the sewerage network would not be able to cope and that it would increase traffic congestion.

A previous application on a neighbouring site by Model Investment Partnership – which has common directors with Kenny Developments – was rejected by city planners in 2011 on the grounds that it was premature because a potential route for the link from the Western Distributor Road to the proposed Galway City Outer Bypass had not been identified.