Galway County Council has refused planning permission for the construction of 54 houses on the outskirts of Headford after a “substantially different” layout was presented after a request for further information.
Corestone Limited submitted plans for a housing estate on a site in Headford off Church Road, next to Moyne Villa soccer club.
The proposed estate of 54 houses, a mix two, three, and four bedroom dwellings, would have been served by 135 car parking spaces.
The county council raised multiple issues with the original design and layout of the plans. There were concerns about the internal roads layout, such as access issues for large emergency vehicles in cul de sacs, safety issues created by the location of some parking spaces.
The roads and transportation department also noted that several issues were highlighted in the Roads Safety Analysis submitted with the application, which had not been addressed in the plans.
The county council also took issue with the location of the proposed communal open space in the plans, which was at the rear of the estate, and not close to the bulk of houses.
The council requested that the developer submit revised plans with a central shared space, a different layout with greater density of houses closer to the village centre, and a revised road layout to address the safety concerns raised.
However, when revised plans were submitted in May of this year, the county council said that they went much further than what was requested, and were “substantially different to the original proposal”.
The were multiple “largely unsolicited” revisions to the street fronting area, and the council stated that it had not been shown that they, and the public open space would “satisfactorily assimilate” the site into the town environment.
The roads department also commented that with the “significant overall change” to the site layout, and no revised road safety audit accompanying the new plans, it could not be demonstrated that the road design would not pose a safety hazard.
