Way cleared for student complex

A long-running legal dispute over ownership of a plot of land in the city centre has been resolved, paving the way for construction work to begin on a €25 million student accommodation complex at Galway Docks.

Developer Gerry Barrett of Bonham Dock Ltd secured planning permission for the ‘Queen Street Development’ on a three-quarter acre site adjacent to the United Methodist and Presbyterian Church on Victoria Place.

The land was acquired in 2017 by British technology entrepreneurs Shukri Shammas and Tareq Naqib of Summix OSG Developments Limited, who have branched out into the development of student accommodation in Ireland.

Galway City Council gave the go-ahead for 345 en-suite bedrooms in a complex to be built behind the two blocks of offices currently under construction and substantially completed at Bonham Quay.

An oral hearing by An Bórd Pleanála was subsequently told how an area marked in the plans as a public right-of-way to the development was not in the ownership of Galway City Council and in fact has been a parking area for VP Motors on Queen Street for almost 50 years.

Despite claims from the Council that they owned the small plot of land, owner of VP Motors, Michael O’Boyle, said the local authority had no claim over it.

The piece of land that was under dispute was integral to the student development proceeding. It would also be important as a public right of way for plans to redevelop Ceannt Station.

In May 2019, Summix pursued the matter through the courts, and a resolution to the dispute was reached last week.

VP Motors consented to an order being made in open court, at the second day of the trial at Galway Circuit Court, to vacate the property.

They had claimed adverse possession of the land, and that they had been using it since 1969.

But legal representatives for Summix argued that they did not exclusively occupy the site and it was not exclusively in their possession, and so they did not have adverse possession; and that it was subject to a public right-of-way and public footpath and that you cannot claim adverse possession on a public right-of-way.

The consent order, which both parties agreed to, directs VP Motors to vacate the site, and they have four months to do so. Both sides were responsible for their own costs.

This dispute was holding up the development of the 345 student accommodation complex, which can now proceed.

Shane MacSweeney, Managing Partner of MacSweeney & Company, said his client Summix, welcomed the resolution.

Mr MacSweeney said: “We welcome the belated resolution of this difficult dispute and the fact that this important piece of infrastructure can now proceed to address the critical shortage of student accommodation in Galway City.”

Planners attached a series of conditions to the granting of permission, including a stipulation that the development must only be used for student accommodation during the academic year, and student or tourist accommodation only during the academic holiday periods.

It cannot be used for permanent residential accommodation, as a hotel, hostel, apart-hotel or similar use without a prior grant of permission from the Council.