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Sale of Royal Tara could pay for airport purchase
The four agreements under which Galway Corporation leased out Royal Tara China in Mervue, have been made public following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
Three of the leases, which were each for 250 years, were signed in the 1950s. The fourth lease was signed in 1977.
The leases have become of interest now that the development of Royal Tara China in Mervue is back on the agenda as Galway City Council plans to relinquish its interest in the property in return for half a million Euros.
The local authority has revealed it is planning to dispose of its freehold interest in the historic building and site, and use the proceeds to fund the deal to buy Galway Airport.
Officials at City Hall briefed Galway City Councillors about its plans to offload its interest in Royal Tara buildings, and the 1.9 hectares of land it sits on.
City Councillors have been advised that the local authority is now obliged to sell its freehold.
“Galway City Council have sought legal opinion on the request by Royal Tara Holdings to sell the property and it was confirmed that City Council are obliged to sell the freehold interest once price exceeds market valuation,” a briefing document says.
The report notes a valuation has been carried out on the site by external consultants based on market values. “The price agreed of €353,000 exceeds the market valuation,” the report says.
The first lease in 1955 was £3,183 for 250 years. The annual rent was one shilling. This is for one acre, one rood and 28 perches which includes house and outhouses. The house could be used for a dwelling for a factory.
The second lease in 1957 was £200 for 250 years. Annual rent is one shilling and this was for an extra three rood and three perches.
The third lease in 1959 was £253.15.6 and this again was for 250 years. Annual rent was one shilling, which was for one acre and 33.36 perches.
The fourth lease in 1977 was for £831.2.5. This lease was for 500 years with an annual rent of five pence.
The fourth lease stipulates that no building whatsoever can take place on the lands at Royal Tara.
The three previous leases explicitly banned the use of the buildings and land for a dance hall, gambling or wagering or public amusements other than a cinema or theatre.
The leases also stipulated, “that they not carry on any noisy trade or offensive trade or offensive manufacture.”
Management at Galway City Council have recommended to Galway City Councillors to dispose of the site.
The recommendation says: “Disposal of freehold interest to Royal Tara China holdings Limited for the total sum of €535,000 with the proceeds of sale used to purchase Galway Airport. The cost of the airport site is €550,000 plus VAT, land registry and legal fees”.
The leases, which have been seen by the Sentinel, were released to former Labour Party Galway City Councillor, Nuala Nolan, under FOI. Ms Nolan was also a former employee of Royal Tara China.
Royal Tara is to be discussed by councillors again in the coming weeks.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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