Residents oppose plan to develop South Park

Date Published: {J}

By Dara Bradley

Plans to provide ground services which would allow a structural development for “events, community uses and sports activities” to be built at South Park have been opposed by residents of the Claddagh.

The Claddagh Residents Association (CRA) has called on City planners to delete the reference contained in the Galway City Draft Development Plan 2011-2017 to the provision of the ground services at the green area adjacent to Nimmo’s Pier.

In their submission to the Draft Plan, CRA said: “It is important to note that at every public meeting held in the Claddagh over the years and right up to the most recent public meeting, the residents have clearly, repeatedly and unanimously confirmed that South Park is a special area of amenity not just for the Claddagh but for the city and are vehemently opposed to any structural development in the park”.

The provision of a specific objective in the plan which states “to provide ground services that can accommodate events, community uses and sports activities at South Park and the area adjacent to Nimmo’s Pier” indicates to the residents that the City Council is “laying the groundwork” for a structural development at the park.

The residents say that the objective stated in the plan is “vague”; and they feel it is “unnecessary and inappropriate” to include it because events with ground services are held on a regular basis at south Park without needing a specific objective to facilitate them.