Homeowners vow to fight demolition of properties for ring road

A large number of Galway homeowners, whose houses will be demolished to make way for the proposed N6 Galway City Ring Road, intend to fight this decision over the coming weeks.

A total of 44 homes will be demolished under the current ring road proposal, with a number of other homes set to be purchased but not demolished.

Speaking at the opening session of An Bord Pleanála’s oral hearing concerning the proposed ring road this week, Eileen McCarthy of ARUP Consulting Engineers said that 27 of the 28 submissions received from homeowners were against the development.

More than 300 people attended the opening session of the oral hearing in the G Hotel on Tuesday morning.

This oral hearing is expected to be one of the longest running in recent planning history and is currently scheduled to sit for 28 days over the next eight weeks.

This week’s sitting has been largely devoted to the project’s consultant engineers ARUP, who have been outlining the overall project and detailing their response to the 296 submissions received in relation to the ring road.

It is expected that information from members of the public who lodged submissions to An Bord Pleanála will begin to be heard early next week.

Ms McCarthy said that great efforts were made to reduce the number of homes which would be affected by the construction of the ring road.

“From the outset of the design of the proposed road development, every effort was made to avoid homes where possible,” she stated.

“In some areas, clusters of homes are to be demolished which compounds the impact on the entire community and this is an unfortunate impact.

“This occurs as the road crosses Forramelia Road and Truskey Road to the north of Bearna where seven homes are to be acquired. It occurs again at the N59 Moycullen Road crossing where nine homes are to be acquired.

For extensive coverage of the ring road oral hearing, read this week’s Galway City Tribune. We are the only newspaper covering each and every day of the hearing and all the arguments for and against the project.

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