HSE and Lidl go head to head in row over hospital helipad

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The HSE has asked An Bord Pleanála to rescind planning permission for a new Lidl supermarket in the Westside – voicing fresh concerns that it could interfere with flight operations at the helipad at University Hospital Galway.

A separate appeal by independent grocers’ group RGDATA was invalidated by An Bord Pleanála on a technicality.

The location is the busiest hospital helipad in the country – in 2018, 49% of all medical helicopter missions in Ireland landed at UHG.

The HSE has criticised Galway City Council, claiming it failed to adequately ensure the safety of operations to and from the helipad.

Prior to the Council’s decision to grant permission for the new supermarket on the former Arch Motors site on Seamus Quirke Road, the HSE flagged concerns that construction sites “pose a significant threat to helicopter operations”, and asked that tower cranes not be used at the site and also that the Council consider the dangers which glare from proposed solar panels could cause for pilots.

The Council ordered Lidl to seek a report from an aviation expert on the impact which the development would have on flight operations; on landings and take offs; the location of solar panels at roof level (in terms of potential glare) and any other issues which may arise.

In its response, Lidl said it sought advice from the Irish Aviation Authority and CHC Ireland Ltd (the principal operators of the helipad), but received no response.

In its appeal against the planning permission, the HSE said that Lidl’s response was not adequate.

“The Council clearly directed the applicant to prepare and submit a report from a ‘qualified person’ to assess the impact of the development on flight operations.

“The absence of such a ‘qualified person’ from the applicant’s design team does not preclude the applicant from undertaking a comprehensive and robust assessment of the proposed development in the context of flight operations at the UHG site.

“The applicant should have been required to prepare and submit a comprehensive constriction and operational management plan, prepared by an aviation expert, which sets out a detailed assessment of all potential impacts of the proposed development on flight operations at UHG and which includes a detailed glint and glare assessment,” the appeal reads.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the full details, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.