Planning permission has been refused for a large-scale residential development of 148 houses and apartments on the north side of Galway City.
Cairn Homes Ltd sought permission from Galway City Council for the construction of a large housing estate on lands south of the Letteragh Road.
The new estate would have been next to the existing Sliabh Ríoga development, with the western edge of the subject site bounded by the planned N59 Link Road.
This development would comprise 93 houses, the bulk of which would be three-bed homes, but also including a small number of two-bed and four-bed houses.
The estate would also include 20 duplex units, half of which would be two-bed and half three-bed units, and 35 apartments, 19 one-bed and 16 two-bed units.
The proposed four-storey apartment building would be the most prominent element of the estate, located at the entrance facing onto the Letteragh Road.
The proposed estate was almost double the size of a residential development which would be required by law to have a childcare facility in the plans.
However, the developer argued in the application that there is sufficient capacity in existing and planned creches in the area.
In refusing planning permission the City Council said that the development would “adversely affect the operation and safety of the national road network”, either by itself or by virtue of the precedent it would set.
The decision also said that the developer had failed to put forward an adequate case for not having a childcare facility in the plans.
Several elements of the estate’s design were criticised, such as the “predominantly narrow, linear, unbalanced, and poorly configured” communal open space.
It also criticised the quality of communal space at one apartment block, and the internal layout of one block of duplex units, both of which would be “contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area” if permitted.
