CITY TRIBUNE
Oranhill park plan falls flat
A warning of the potential for legal action – and possibly even a judicial review of the County Development Plan – led Galway County Councillors to change their minds on plans to rezone land in Oranhill, Oranmore.
After a lengthy debate at their meeting last week, councillors voted to keep the land zoned ‘Residential Phase 1’ as per the Draft Galway County Development Plan 2022-28.
This was accepting the advice of Chief Executive Jim Cullen and the Office of Planning Regulator.
It was also a reversal of the decision elected members had made at meetings in December and January, when they voted to zone the land Open Space/Recreation and Amenity.
That rezoning followed a series of public meetings and a campaign by residents in Oranhill, which was lacking in recreational space and amenities.
When councillors voted to rezone the land away from Residential, they did so when it was in the ownership of the State, through NAMA.
But Valerie Loughnane, Executive Planner, confirmed to the latest Council meeting that since then, the land was sold to a private developer.
That developer had bought the land with planning permission for houses and intended to build them.
She warned councillors that a commencement notice had been issued, which was valid, the builder was on-site last week, and there was a live planning permission for houses on that site up to 2026.
Ms Loughnane warned elected members that if they followed through on the Open Space/R&A rezoning, then Galway County Council’s development plan could be the subject of a judicial review. She cited a case in Meath, where the local authority was facing five judicial reviews over its county development plan, including one rezoning decision which was very similar to the Oranhill site.
The meeting heard that the sale from NAMA to the developer went through in March.
Mr Cullen said that nobody could be certain what would happen if they voted against his advice but he warned it created a risk of legal action.
If that happened, the County Council staff would be in a position where they would be forced to defend something in court that they did not support.
Cllr Martina Kinnane (FF) said the site was idle for 18 years, and the people of Oranhill were crying out for facilities. “Not one swing or any play facilities have been provided in those 18 years,” she said.
Cllr PJ Murphy (FG) said he voted with Cllr Kinnane earlier this year on this rezoning, “but since then all has changed, changed utterly”.
It was owned by NAMA, but it is now owned by a private developer, planning permission was in place, and a valid commencement notice was issued, he said.
Nearly every councillor who spoke said that Oranhill needed recreation and amenity, and planners agreed, but many councillors who voted for the rezoning earlier this year, said they did so because it was owned by the State, through NAMA.
Cllr Tom Curran (RSF) said NAMA had “reneged” and should not have sold the land.
But Ms Loughanne said that NAMA was set up to bailout banks during the crash; as a result of that, it got lands, which it had a duty to manage, including sell, in the best interests of getting a maximum return for taxpayers.
Mr Cullen said there was “no justification” to remove the Residential Phase 1 zoning, and he advised councillors to revert to that zoning.
Cllr Kinnane proposed a motion, seconded by Cllr Geraldine Donoghue (Ind), to reject that recommendation but it was defeated. Eleven voted for her proposal (to rezone it Open Space/R&A) 19 voted against, and there were eight abstentions.
Meanwhile, later in the meeting, Councillors Kinnane and Donohue voted in favour of rezoning land in Oranmore from Open Space/Recreational and Amenity to Residential Phase 2, which Cllr Jimmy McClearn (FG) said was “contradictory” to their previous position.
Cllr McClearn, from Portumna, said he did not know the area but it seemed to him, from the earlier debate, that Oranhill needed recreational land not more residential land. “I recognise a contradiction when I see it,” he said.
Both Councillors Kinnane and Donohue denied this and outlined their reasons for voting to rezone the parcel of land from Open Space/Recreation and Amenity to Residential Phase 2, which only comes into play when all Residential Phase 1 lands are developed or unavailable.
Cllr Kinnane said the site was “too far” from Oranhill but Cllr Liam Carroll (FG) said the site in question was “less than 100 metres” from the site in Oranhill that they had debated earlier.
He said it “would be an advantage” to retain it as Open Space/R&A and could be used to build recreation facilities for the people living in Oranhill.
Cllr Alastair McKinstry (Green) insisted that Oranhill “needs recreational and amenity lands”.
Cllr Kinnane’s proposal, to reject the recommendation of the CE and OPR, and to rezone the Open Space/R&A lands to Residential Phase 2, was passed with 20 votes in favour, eleven against, four abstentions and three councillors’ votes were not recorded.
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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