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CITY TRIBUNE

Council rejects bid to retain unauthorised mosque

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Galway City Council has rejected an attempt to retain a controversial mosque which was built without planning permission in Mincloon.

Planners said the building – which has been mired in controversy since 2010 and served with several Enforcement and Warning Notices by the Council – adversely impact the rural area and neighbouring residents, that it is a substandard development and if allowed to remain in place, would cause a serious traffic and pedestrian hazard.

The owners of the house, Dr Saud Bajwa and Molon Bazlul Haque of the Western Islamic Cultural Centre, had sought permission to retain the use of the property as a place of worship by the Muslim community, to construct a weather porch to the front, and to mark off 16 car parking spaces.

They pointed out that the 2017-23 City Development Plan provides for the use of the house as a place of congregation and worship.

However, planners rejected the retention application, ruling that the place of worship would adversely impact upon the high quality rural and residential amenities because of noise from visitors, traffic and parking.

In his report, Executive Planner John Doody wrote: “There have been numerous inspections by the Planning Enforcement Section over a number of years which highlight an overflow of parking onto the adjacent rural roadway.”

The planning decision added that the basement living accommodation is substandard and the lack of glazing and direct sunlight “due to the subterranean nature of the basement” would permit an unacceptable living environment and establish an unacceptable precedent.

Planners also said that the narrow Letteragh Road, combined with limited capacity on other roads and limited parking would “impact adversely upon traffic and pedestrian safety in the area and thereby result in a serious traffic hazard”.

The Council said that the building is in close proximity to the Barna Stream and the applicants had failed to demonstrate the suitability of the site for the treatment and disposal of effluent – therefore it would be likely to create conditions prejudicial to public health.

There were five objections and submissions to the retention application, which mainly concerned the ongoing unauthorised use of the buildings as a place of assembly/worship and an “extremely high” level of cars.

“The suggestion that the use of the building as a place of worship/assembly is ancillary to a dwelling house is incorrect, the primary use is as a place of worship involving, at times, a large number of persons, meeting a number of times throughout the day.

“People currently arrive during the night and day ranging from 5am to 2am, which results in noise of cars day and night, generating disturbance in what is a quiet rural location

“The use of a loudspeaker at some meetings results in excessive noise, there is concern regarding the potential for the use of this loudspeaker at all meetings.

“The adjacent site is owned by the applicant and also used for parking cars,” the objections read.

The planning report notes that in 2010, refusal was recommended for the retention of a semi-basement and other changes to the house, but this was not accepted by the Director of Services for Planning, who issued a direction to issue a grant of planning.

In 2010, the Council’s Enforcement Section visited the site and found what was being built was vastly different from the single-storey house granted permission a year previously – this included an unauthorised basement living area, and a garage area had no garage door and was being partitioned into a number of rooms.

The Enforcement Officer also noted that the building had a “generous supply of electrical cabling”.

A warning letter and Enforcement Notice followed, and planning permission to regularise some of the changes to the development was subsequently sought and approved.

However, in 2013, there were further complaints to the Enforcement Section and an inspection found the rear of the property had been tarmacadamed for a carpark, a high timber fence had been built and the basement area contained bedrooms, a living area and kitchen, rather than the ‘study’ shown on drawings.

A further warning letter was served by the Council.

During discussions on the Draft City Development Plan (now passed) last December, there were 17 submissions made on proposals to vary the Development Plan to allow for a mosque on the site. Following a heated row in the chamber, councillors voted 11-7 to make the change – against the advice of Council officials.

The alteration to the Development Plan paved the way for the current planning application to be considered by city planners.

The decision is expected to be appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

CITY TRIBUNE

Galway ‘masterplan’ needed to tackle housing and transport crises

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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.”

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CITY TRIBUNE

Official opening of Galway’s new pedestrian and cycle bridge

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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).

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CITY TRIBUNE

Minister branded ‘a disgrace’ for reversing land rezoning in Galway City

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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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