Galway County Council has granted planning permission a housing development in Oughterard consisting of 21 houses.
Hyman Properties has been granted approval for the estate of detached, semi-detached, and terraced houses at Kilcummin Field in Oughterard.
The 0.69Ha site of the proposed development is currently an undeveloped brownfield location, with existing residential develops to the north and west, and agricultural land to the south and east.
There were eleven objections received by the county council related to this project which raised concerns that the increased traffic in the area would pose a road safety hazard for pedestrians, and over the proposal to remove two “unused” tanks in the field.
In further information submitted to the council by Hyman, a pre-connection inquiry to Irish Water said that the privately managed wastewater system at Kilcummin Fields, which they propose to connect to, “ultimately connects to the Irish Water network”.
An inspection of the tanks which the developer intends to remove said that they were “not function and appear to be out of use for a number of years”, noting that they are flooded with rainwater.
Multiple objections also said that the site was cleared during the first lockdown last year, when work should not have been taking place, and that it is regularly prone to flooding.
Residents of the existing Kilcummin Field estate said that these tanks are not unused, but are part of the estate’s wastewater disposal system, as the estate isn’t hooked up to the town’s main sewer system.
Planning permission was granted by the county council for this housing estate with sixteen conditions attached.
After requesting the the developer revise the layout of the proposed estate in response to concerns about its design, the council then stipulated that the develop must remove one of the detached houses adjacent to the public space.
This requirement was made as it had no private garden in the plans. The council also stipulated that this land should be added to the overall level of green space in the estate instead.
To fulfil their Part V housing requirements, the developer has agreed to sell two of the semi-detached houses to the county council for social housing usage.
