City Council housing halted by highly-invasive Japanese knotweed

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – A site earmarked for social housing has been colonised by a ground-devouring weed.

Development of houses on the Council-owned land in Doughiska cannot proceed until an infestation of Japanese Knotweed is treated.

A report by Tobin Consulting Engineers found that the 1.03-hectare site, between Doughiska Road and Bóthar na dTreabh, was used as an illegal dump for many years.

“This has led to the colonisation of the invasive species Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) throughout the north-western sections of the site,” it said.

Tobin said that there are plans to build social housing on the site but “the knotweed onsite will need to be treated and eradicated before the proposed development can go ahead”.

“Due to the large amounts of fly tipping evident, it is believed that the site was mainly used as a dumping ground for rubbish, rubble and burnt materials for an unknown number of years. The re-colonising vegetation onsite consisted mainly of Japanese Knotweed, bramble and nettle,” according to the report commissioned by the City Council.
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