Second bid to develop ‘cuckoo fund’ apartment blocks

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The developer behind hugely controversial plans to build hundreds of apartments in Knocknacarra – turned down by An Bord Pleanála in 2020 – has come back with a new proposal for the site.

It forms the first every proposal to come before Galway City Council under new Large-scale Residential Development (LRD) legislation.

Glenveagh Living Ltd – which specialises in off-loading entire developments to so-called ‘cuckoo funds’ – attracted massive local opposition to their original plan to build 330 apartments at the entrance to Gateway Shopping Park.

There were a total of 27 objections to the plan for the six-acre site, including a petition with more than 700 signatures from local residents.

Under new LRD planning legislation, the company asked the City Council if it can proceed to make a planning application for a scaled-back project on the site.

The proposal involves 266 apartments built across 7 five-storey blocks, as well as the realignment and upgrading of the link road between Gort na Bró and Gateway Shopping Park.

As part of the LRD process, the Council has given Glenveagh its opinion on whether the proposals “constitute a reasonable basis for submitting an LRD application”.

The Council delivered its opinion on October 25, but when contacted this week, refused to reveal what that decision was.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, and support our journalism, see the November 11 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.