Locals and visitors to Portumna will have a new water amenity for the summer, as the county council has approved plans for a floating water park.
Planning permission has been granted to West Lake Aqua Park for a floating adventure facility on Lough Derg.
This inflatable obstacle course will be made of floating pontoons anchored around 73m off the shore, and linked to the land by more pontoons.
The water park has been given the green light by the county council to operate in the summer, between May 1 and September 31 each year.
This will be the second adventure centre from West Lake Aqua Park, which already operates a similar facility at Killaloe, Co. Clare.
“West Lake Aqua Park is an inflatable aqua park over water with interchangeable features of varying difficulty levels to keep customers of all ages from six upwards entertained,” documents with the planning application state.
Whether alone or in a group, climbing, sliding, jumping, rolling and running along the course, customers are sure to have a memorable experience.”
“Under the watchful eye of our lifeguards on duty, customers work their way along the course with a session typically lasting an hour.”
There were nine public submissions made to Galway County Council about this development, raising concerns about parking, traffic, noise, impact on water quality, and overcrowding public facilities, and water safety.
Concerns were also raised by multiple submissions about how this will affect or take away from a popular swimming area on the lake.
The council requested additional environmental information from the developer, after stating that the initial Natura Impact Statement did not adequately address potential impacts on bird species in the Lough Derg area.
Planning permission was ultimately granted for the project with seven standard conditions attached.
