Bypass could sever family links after generations

Planning permissions for family homes were granted as late as four months ago on lands that lie within the corridors of the proposed new city bypass routes.

It has also emerged that some owners of long-established existing homes that lie within the routes and that face demolition, did not receive official notification letters and only learned of their fate in the Galway City Tribune.

Elsewhere, several members of the same families, who have been settled in Menlo for generations, face the prospect of their homes being wiped out to make way for the road. Menlo residents have formed a committee to oppose the new routes and will meet next Monday.

Meanwhile, hundreds of landowners along the old bypass route, whose lands and properties were ‘frozen’ for over a decade, haven’t yet received notification that the exclusions on their properties have been lifted.

These were just some of the issues raised at this week’s Galway City Council meeting in which several elected members voiced scepticism and concern about the proposed new routes for the city bypass.  Families who have only just been granted planning permissions for their new ‘dream homes’ on lands within the six corridor routes face an anxious wait until April when they will learn their fate, and the identity of the preferred route.

Sinn Féin city councillor Cathal Ó Conchúir told the meeting that last July, August and September people were still getting planning permission for homes on lands that lie within the six route corridors.

In one instance, contractors were ready to move-in on site in Bushypark to start building a new family home last week, having been granted planning in August.

“They were all set to go. The plans were drawn and the builders were ready to go. The woman got the shock of her life when she was told that work couldn’t go ahead because the house was in the path of one of the routes,” said Cllr Ó Conchúir.

He said he went knocking on doors of homes that will be affected, and which could be knocked to make way for the bypass, in Ballymoneen Road, Cappagh Road and in Bushypark, and was shocked to discover that homeowners whose homes face demolition hadn’t received letters from the local authority alerting them to that fact.

For extensive coverage on the bypass, see this week’s Galway City Tribune