Bearna Beo

Further to yesterday's story about Galway County Council's lack of support re: providing facilities for our community, and school reaching capacity, we now learn that a planning application was refused on a local site because the density was too LOW!

The proposed development for the site adjacent to Heather Hill (Cnoc Fraoigh), in Bearna Village - there isn't even a footpath to the village from this estate.

Burkeway Homes Ltd. c/o McCarthy Keville O'Sullivan, Moneenageisha Road, Galway, had applied to An Bord Pleanala to build 113 new homes at Trusky East (accessed via Heather Hill, on the '12 Pins Road').

This comprised of 46 detached units, 64 semi-detached, and three terraced units. Additionally, there would be two vehicular and six pedestrian link bridges, provision of visitor parking, landscaping, and vehicular access from the L-1321 local road via Croc Fraoigh (Heather Hill).

The applicants took advantage of new planning laws, designed to ease the current crisis - exacerbated by the collapse of the housing market during the economic downturn.

In October, The Connacht Tribune reported:

"The proposal by Burkeway Homes Limited will not go through the ‘usual’ planning process, and has been submitted directly to An Bórd Pleanála.

"It is one of the first major housing developments in the country to come under new Strategic Housing Development Regulations 2017.

"Under the new rules, the developer does not have to lodge the application with Galway County Council, if the plans are for a development of over 100 houses. The developer bypasses the local authority and has the application assessed directly by the planning appeals board."

Burkeway, in its submission, said the development was in keeping with Galway County Council’s Local Area Plan for Bearna, and the zoning of the site, which has a stream through it.

“The central design challenge and opportunity for this site is to create a high-quality housing development, which protects and benefits from the existing stream running through the site. The concept for the design is to create a new greenway amenity space defined by the stream and addressed and enjoyed by the new residences,” it said.

As well as 113 housing units, the development proposes a new playground and public open space. “The proposed scheme has been designed to create sustainable, well orientated and good quality houses . . . The development will continue to contribute positively to the residential amenity of the area with the development of large public amenity space and play areas, allowing the development to contribute to the overall social amenity of the Bearna region,” Burkeway added.

If the board decided to refuse permission, the developer could seek a judicial review of that decision – but only on the process of the decision, not the merits of it.

This week, An Bord Pleanala notified objectors of its decision: REFUSE.

However, there will be no champagne bottles popped in the village tonight, as further examination of the correspondence reveals that this is because the density applied for was too low!

"The Board considers that the density of the proposed development is contrary to the provisions of the Act... it is on serviceable lands, within the development boundary of Bearna, in an area earmarked for Phase 1 residential development, and within the Galway Metropolitan Area, as designated n the settlement strategy for the county.

"Having regard to the proposed density of development, it is considered that the proposed development would not be developed at a sufficiently high density to provide for an acceptable efficiency in serviceable land usage, given the proximity of the site to the built-up area of Bearna and Galway City, and to the established social and community services in the immediate vicinity.

"It is considered that the low density proposed would be contrary to the Ministerial Guidelines, which indicate that net densities less than 30 dwellings per hectare should generally be discouraged in the interests of land efficiency."

The areas marked in yellow are the roadways surrounding the existing houses in Heather Hill (Cnoc Fraoigh).

As a concerned resident remarked today: "Now, if only there were facilities for all these houses..."

More in this Irish Examiner story : https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/galway-housing-refusal-seen-as-warning-to-fast-track-developers-827403.html

Planning Refused Due to Low Density!