An Bord Pleanála has upheld a decision to refuse planning permission for a housing development in Gort town centre.
Galway County Council had previously refused planning permission for construction of the five townhouses on Church Street, Gort back in October, 2019.
The council rejected the plans for not “adequately reinforcing the existing urban form of Gort, contributing to a sense of place, or perpetuating existing or creating new connected streets thereby assimilating its edge of centre setting”.
A second reason given for refusing planning permission said that the scale of the proposed project is larger than what is acceptable for this site.
The proposed development consisted of five serviced two storey, two bed townhouses, associated parking on a 1,420sqm site.
Three of the proposed townhouses would have faced out onto Church Street, while two others would have further down the access lane.
O’Grady Construction appealed the county council’s decision to An Bord Pleanála, saying that the council failed to carry out a proper assessment.
The developer argued that the proposed development is of reasonable density, has more parking than required, and is ideally located for local services in Gort town centre.
The board ultimately decided to uphold the county council’s initial refusal of planning permission.
The decision cited the “lack of legibility” for the development as a cluster scheme that would integrate into the surrounding area.
It mention “deficient” private open space for each house as well as “a predominance of linear surface parking facilities in conjunction with the centrally located internal access route”.
