Decision on Galway Harbour delayed again

The Bord Pleanála decision on the planning application to redevelop Galway Harbour has been delayed again.

A spokesperson for the planning appeals board said the decision is now due to be announced later this month.

“It is just at board level now. We expect a decision at the end of July . . . in a couple of weeks,” the spokesperson said.

The oral hearing into the proposed multi-million euro extension of the harbour was held in the city in January and a decision was due in April or May.

However, in May the planning appeals board confirmed that the decision date had been pushed back by several weeks.

“The decision on this case has been deferred and the Board now hopes to complete its consideration of the application before the end of June,” a spokesperson said at the time.

Asked why it had been deferred, the spokesperson added: “It’s the general complexity of the issues in the case.”

A spokesperson this week confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that the due date was again pushed back by weeks.

An Bórd Pleanála planners heard evidence from experts during an oral hearing that lasted over two weeks earlier this year.

At the hearing, An Taisce and the Cladonian Mariner’s Community Boat Club both warned of the risks of more storm surges and flooding.

But Engineering hydrologist Anthony Cawley told the hearing that the proposed development meets the guidelines for flood risk management and would not result in coastal erosion within the bay.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune