Planning bid the next step for rezoned Westside site

Date Published: 14-Jul-2011

By Dara Bradley

A planning application for a large €35 million supermarket is expected to be lodged with planners this Autumn after a majority of city councillors voted to rezone a nine and a half acre site at Shantalla on Monday despite a strong campaign of objection from local residents.

Site owner Micheál Ó hUigínn yesterday warmly welcomed the decision to rezone the land from Commercial to a District Centre, and said he would be meeting with a team of planners, architects, designers, contractors and other consultants within the next 10 days to set out a schedule of how best to proceed.

Representatives of British retail giant Tesco – the preferred occupants of any new development – have been made aware of the rezoning go-ahead and will be attending this preliminary meeting.

Tesco has a standard template for the design of about 30 different sized supermarkets and the plans will be drawn up based on one of these templates and ‘tweaked’ to suit the local site.

Once the drawings are complete, Mr Ó hUigínn and his team of consultants will enter into pre-planning discussions with officials from the planning office at City Hall.

Securing rezoning only gets over the first stumbling block – the next major hurdle is likely to be the issue of a new road. It is understood that the Council may seek to close access onto the newly revamped four-lane Seamus Quirke Road from the Rahoon Road.

If this happens then it is likely the local authority will seek, as part of the condition of any planning permission that may be granted, the construction of a new road from the Rahoon Road going through the 9.5 acre site, and linking up with Seamus Quirke Road at the ‘Aldi’ Junction.

Speaking to the Galway City Tribune in the wake of the successful vote on Monday, Mr Ó hUigínn said he was delighted that the rezoning vote was passed at the second attempt.

“I’m very pleased with the way it worked out. I felt that after what happened at the January meeting, that it would be very unjust if I didn’t get the rezoning. In the end, that’s the way the Council viewed it.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.