An Bord Pleanála has refused planning permission to build 64 houses on the outskirts of Loughrea, overturning a decision by the county council.
Jardonelle Ltd had planned to build a 64 home housing estate on a site at Baunoge, Loughrea.
The estate would have consisted of 32 four bedroom semi-detached houses, 29 three-bed
terraced houses, and 3 two-bed terrace houses.
Access to this new housing estate would have been through the existing Baunoge estate, which was a concern raised in multiple submissions to the council in the initial application.
Planning permission was granted by Galway County Council in September of 2019, subject to 18 conditions.
An appeal against the grant of planning permission was made by a local resident on the grounds that the Stage 1 Road Safety Audit carried out by the developer was insufficient, and didn’t take into account normal traffic levels as it was done during the summer holidays.
Concerns were also raised about the proposed layout of the site, and potential overshadowing of some houses in the existing estate.
The first inspector’s report was submitted to the board in February of this year, which recommended that permission be refused based on the design and layout of the scheme.
Based on this the board decided to defer making a decision, until further submissions could be made by the developer and appellant.
Ultimately, An Bord Pleanála decided to go against the county council’s decision and refuse planning permission for the housing estate.
“It is considered that the development as proposed would result in a poor quality of residential design that would be substandard in its scale and layout and would fail to provide high quality usable open spaces.”
“Furthermore, the proposed layout fails to adequately address the site topography resulting in a visually prominent development,” the board said.
The Board also said that the internal road layout was “unimaginative” and that the scheme lacked “supervised pedestrian permeability” to the existing Baunoge housing estate.
“The proposed development would, therefore, be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.”
