Public park at Shantalla saved from rezoning

A proposal to rezone part of Shantalla Park to allow for the creation of a primary healthcare centre has been shelved after councillors moved to vote down a variation of the Galway City Development Plan.

In a motion put forward by Councillor Colette Connolly (Lab) and seconded by her sister Councillor Catherine Connolly – which was signed by 14 councillors – the 2.8 acre site will now be retained as a green space for the residents of Shantalla.

It was a recommendation of the former manager, Joe O’Neill, to vary the development plan which would pave the way for its disposal to a private medical company to develop a one-stop health clinic where doctors, nurses, physiotherapists could operate and basic services such as blood tests and x-rays could be carried out.

However after a concerted campaign by residents who lobbied all the representatives, that plan is now dead in the water as the manager needed the approval of councillors to firstly vary the plan and then agree to its sale.