Ring Road: Developer’s row over plan for compensatory grass

The amount of ‘compensatory habitat’ being provided as part of proposals for the N6 Galway City Ring Road is excessive.

That’s according to a representative for McHugh Property Group, which owns over 100 acres of land in the Menlo area including Lackagh Quarry.

Senior Counsel Dermot Flanagan told the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing on the proposed €650 million road development that his clients believed proposals to use in-filled parts of the quarry to re-create calcareous grassland – a specific type of grass that grows in limestone areas – were unnecessary.

According to Mr Flanagan, evidence submitted to the hearing by ecologist for the GCRR project, Aebhín Cawley, indicated that 0.25ha of calcareous grasslands would be lost to the road, but 7.14ha of compensatory land was to be provided as part of mitigation measures (for habitats which would be ‘lost’ to the ring road).

Furthermore, he said Ms Cawley had stated that the ratio of compensatory lands should be one-to-one or greater – adding that what was being proposed was far in excess of this.

Ms Cawley said she wished to clarify that the “bare minimum” of off-setting for lands lost should be one for one, but that it should be greater – and that they were also including for the limestone pavement being lost.

A large proportion of the limestone pavement on the eastern side of the new ring road was situated in a European Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a tunnel near Lackagh Quarry has been included to avoid impacting the protected landscape.

There are a number of areas of limestone pavement not included in the SAC, but do have Annex 1 status meaning it was a habitat of significance, although does not have the same protected status of a SAC.

Ms Cawley said there would be an inability to replace the limestone pavement lost in these areas if the proposed road were to go ahead and so they had made provision to provide additional compensatory areas – providing like for like and then adding to it.

Mr Flanagan said the ratio was extraordinarily above what was required and put it to Ms Cawley that it was simply the case that the opportunity to provide this grassland had arisen due to the in-filling of Lackagh Quarry.

However, Ms Cawley said there were in fact two areas of Lackagh quarry where there would be no material deposits in-filled that were proposed for replacement grasslands.

Mr Flanagan said both he and his clients agreed with Galway County Council – the lead authority on the GCRR project – that adequate limestone pavement had been protected within the SAC, but said there was adequate replacement grasslands being provided in areas outside Lackagh Quarry.

He said his clients had proposed alternate sites for use to replace the grasslands lost, but these had been rejected by the Council.

Mr Flanagan said that lands in the ownership of Galway City Council were suitable for this purpose and so the requirement to issue a Compulsory Acquisition Order on Lackagh Quarry could be avoided.

Ms Cawley said the lands proposed by Mr Flanagan’s clients were not suitable for recreating the habitats required.

On the purpose of these lands after works had been complete, Mr Flanagan questioned if they would be used for agricultural grazing, as recreational facilities, or as some other public amenity.

Ms Cawley confirmed that there would be no public access to the lands after construction.

Meanwhile, Mr Flanagan sought clarification that over three hectares of his client’s lands that were earmarked for use as a site compound would only be subject to a temporary acquisition and would be returned to its original owner once construction was completed.

A spokesperson for project designers ARUP confirmed that it would be reinstated and returned once the Ring Road was completed.