CITY TRIBUNE
Dyke Road area set to undergo transformation
The 4.5-acre Dyke Road site – comprising the car-park, Black Box performance area and adjoining lands – will be transformed into a mixed-use development with a strong residential element, the City Council has heard.
Phelim O’Neill, Head of Property at the Land Development Agency (LDA), in a report presented to councillors last week, said that the development would be an extension of the city core, linking regeneration areas.
“The Dyke Road and Sandy Road [proposed developments] can be catalysts for the regeneration of the wider Headford Road and Liosbán areas,” Mr O’Neill stated.
He said that the Dyke Road project was being considered in the context of a cost rental, mixed use, phased scheme with enterprise and amenity elements.
One of the features being considered in the proposed development is a pedestrian/cycle bridge link over the Corrib to NUI Galway.
The Dyke Road project is to contain a so-called ‘mobility hub’ to facilitate a variety of environmentally friendly transport options such as cycling and public transport services.
At a City Council meeting last year, when the €170 million project was first mooted, there was outrage expressed by a number of councillors at suggestions that the development would contain a large element of student accommodation units.
The latest report from the Land Development Agency contains no reference to student accommodation at the site – only referring to ‘a strong residential element’ in the project.
City councillors called for affordable housing rather than social to be the priority for the planned redevelopment of the Dyke Road site.
Described by Chief Executive Brendan McGrath as the most attractive development site in the city as it was fully in Galway City Council’s ownership, the 4.5-acre site is zoned for city centre use which would have at least 30% residential housing.
This housing would be “largely and not exclusively affordable in nature”, Mr McGrath stated.
There would be offices, possibly geared to research and development that could be linked to NUIG and physically linked to the university by a footbridge.
“So you can live on the site and work on the site which is very attractive,” he enthused.
The recreation and amenity value of the Terryland Forest Park would be enhanced by creating bike trails through it from the site, linking to other cycle paths across the city.
He confirmed there would be commercial units, that would be owned by the Land Development Agency and leased by them to help pay for the cost of the project, which was being funded entirely by the LDA. This body was set up to help local authorities regenerate their sites and build housing.
“It has to be developed in phases. The surface carpark which has 540 carpark spaces has to first be established as a mobility hub as there will continue to be a need for carparking. The lower end of the site where the Black Box [Theatre] is won’t be developed until the Black Box is replaced so the Black Box is not going anywhere,” the Chief Executive assured the meeting.
Councillor Donal Lyons (Ind) said initially there was talk of a gallery or exhibition space to be a major part of the regeneration plan and wanted to know why this no longer seemed to the case.
Fellow Independent Cllr Terry O’Flaherty insisted that the residential mix should at least be half affordable housing while Cllr Eddie Hoare said he was opposed to any of the housing being allocated to social tenants.
“This is strategically located in the city and is ideal for young couples and workers in the city trying to get on the property ladder.”
Mr O’Neill of the LDA said it was up to the Council management and councillors to decide on what kind of housing it wanted but there would be no private homes in the development.
They could also include a public arts space under the charter that would be agreed before appointing a design team to draw up a master plan for the site. Mr McGrath said all aspects of the charter were up for consultation.
“Nothing will happen without clarity, certainty and consideration with elected members,” he stressed.
Councillors agreed to move ahead with the plan in conjunction with the LDA.
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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