CITY TRIBUNE
Cllr’s about-turn on Crown – after being ‘hoodwinked’
A city councillor who voted to approve an application for a €45.5 loan for Galway City Council to move City Hall to Mervue is having second thoughts about the proposal.
Councillor Imelda Byrne (FF) this week said she has “a lot of reservations” about the local authority’s plan to buy the Crown Square building to relocate Council offices from College Road.
She told Galway City Tribune the decision last July was “rushed”, and councillors were not fully informed by management when they voted.
She added she does not see how the costly move will benefit the citizens of Galway.
Cllr Byrne plans to persuade colleagues on the City Council to revisit the issue and review their approval of the property deal.
“I’m not happy with the process. I feel it was completely rushed through. Overall, I struggle to see the gain for the citizens of Galway by this move, especially when remote working legislation has come on board amongst other things. I have a lot of reservations about it. I intend to talk to my colleagues before the next meeting,” Cllr Byrne said.
The first-time councillor voted last July to give Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, the authority to apply for a loan to purchase the new office block built by local construction company JJ Rhatigan.
Like all councillors, she was briefed about the matter on a Wednesday, and three working days later, at the July Ordinary meeting, voted in favour of it.
She said she voted for it, “but even at that stage I did have some reservations because I really felt it was rushed through”.
A week after the vote, Cllr Byrne told a City Development Plan meeting that she felt “hoodwinked” because she understood the College Road site would be used for social housing. But instead, a specific objective to undertake an analysis to assess “the best sustainable options for the future of the site” that would “unlock” its potential was inserted into the new development plan, which may or may not include social housing.
It remains her position that she was hoodwinked.
“At the time, I felt it was maybe the right move, even with my reservations. The only thing that swung me was the fact that they said it (College Road site) would be used for housing for the elderly once they sell it. But as time went on, and I was getting more information, I struggle to see how the move can be of benefit for the city,” she said.
Cllr Byrne said a better option would be to retain City Hall at College Road, and open satellite offices in each electoral area.
“I’m hoping that this can be considered again at the next Council meeting, subject to discussions with my own colleagues. I just cannot see the gain for the city.
“I’d much prefer to retain City Hall at College Road and have outreach places, off-site, for example in Westside, Mervue and Cappagh Road to serve the people in those areas.
“It seems ridiculous that a 40-year-old building is going to be demolished, and it was only refurbished in the early 2000s. We didn’t have enough information. It was only afterwards when I started to ask questions myself; what other buildings were looked at?
“In my limited time on the Council, I’ve never seen such a quick turnaround on a vote on something. In July, I wanted them to reconsider the decision. That hasn’t changed, even having met with the Director of Services since, I’m still not convinced about this,” Cllr Byrne added.
Mr McGrath has confirmed the purchase did not go through a public procurement process. The cost of the deal – to move from College Road and fit out the new building – is €56.5m.
As well as the €45.5 million loan, some €11m from the City Council’s own resources need to be found.
A loan repayment of €880,000 has been budgeted for in 2023, and some €2 million will need to be found every year for 29 years.
Council management pointed to inadequacies in the City Hall building, which would be addressed in Crown Square, as well as savings on renting offices for extra staff as reasons for the move. The potential for social housing at College Road was another ‘carrot’.
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.
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