A plan for a GAA hurling training centre to be located near Athenry have been dropped.
The decision will see the Galway hurling board lose some €2.5 million which has already been spent on a site of over 100 acres.
To proceed, the project would cost further millions and would eventually, the GAA hoped, be worth €8 million.
Plans were submitted to the Council for planning permission and a grant was issued in 2008 for the facility.
To read the Irish Times article on which this summary is based, please click here.
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Showing posts with label galway planning and development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label galway planning and development. Show all posts
Friday, 16 December 2011
Friday, 3 July 2009
Planning board accused of allowing destruction of priority Corrib habitat
THE STATE has accused An Bord Pleanála of permitting “the deliberate destruction” of priority habitat limestone pavement at the protected Lough Corrib site in Co Galway by granting approval for the €317 million Galway city outer bypass.
In a strong attack on the board at the Commercial Court yesterday, Garret Simons SC, for the State, argued that the board’s approval was invalid as it breached the European habitats directive requiring member states to protect natural habitats.
Counsel for the board rejected the attack as unwarranted and described as “farcical” claims by the State the board was trying to save face. The State was now making arguments in this case contrary to what it had told the oral hearing into the road, Nuala Butler SC said.
The Minister for Transport can intervene at any time to stop the road given the Minister for the Environment’s claim that the approval breached EU law but he had not and the board rejected the State’s reasons for not doing so, Mr Simons added.
If there was a breach of European law, the remedy was in the State’s hands but it had not acted and there was no explanation why this conundrum continued to exist.
The clashes happened in the continuing hearing of the challenge by environmentalist Peter Sweetman to the board’s approval in November 2008 for the road scheme, excluding one connection between Gortatlevna and An Baile Nua.
Mr Simons told Mr Justice George Birmingham yesterday that the Government believed the approval was invalid. When the judge asked why the Minister for Transport did not just stop the road project, as suggested by the board, he said that would be an interference with the separation of powers as the issue was now before the courts. The State did not wish to leave an important legal question unresolved or deprive Mr Sweetman of his right of access to the courts.
Mr Simons added that the State supported Mr Sweetman’s application for a referral to the European Court of Justice of issues concerning interpretation of the relevant provisions of the habitats directive so as to secure clarity on the meaning of those provisions.
The case centres on the interpretation of Article 6, particularly 6.3 of the habitats directive which stipulates any plan likely to have a significant effect on a protected site must be appropriately assessed as to its implications for the site’s conservation objectives and prohibits approval of any plan which adversely affects “the integrity” of the site.
The case continues today.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
In a strong attack on the board at the Commercial Court yesterday, Garret Simons SC, for the State, argued that the board’s approval was invalid as it breached the European habitats directive requiring member states to protect natural habitats.
Counsel for the board rejected the attack as unwarranted and described as “farcical” claims by the State the board was trying to save face. The State was now making arguments in this case contrary to what it had told the oral hearing into the road, Nuala Butler SC said.
The Minister for Transport can intervene at any time to stop the road given the Minister for the Environment’s claim that the approval breached EU law but he had not and the board rejected the State’s reasons for not doing so, Mr Simons added.
If there was a breach of European law, the remedy was in the State’s hands but it had not acted and there was no explanation why this conundrum continued to exist.
The clashes happened in the continuing hearing of the challenge by environmentalist Peter Sweetman to the board’s approval in November 2008 for the road scheme, excluding one connection between Gortatlevna and An Baile Nua.
Mr Simons told Mr Justice George Birmingham yesterday that the Government believed the approval was invalid. When the judge asked why the Minister for Transport did not just stop the road project, as suggested by the board, he said that would be an interference with the separation of powers as the issue was now before the courts. The State did not wish to leave an important legal question unresolved or deprive Mr Sweetman of his right of access to the courts.
Mr Simons added that the State supported Mr Sweetman’s application for a referral to the European Court of Justice of issues concerning interpretation of the relevant provisions of the habitats directive so as to secure clarity on the meaning of those provisions.
The case centres on the interpretation of Article 6, particularly 6.3 of the habitats directive which stipulates any plan likely to have a significant effect on a protected site must be appropriately assessed as to its implications for the site’s conservation objectives and prohibits approval of any plan which adversely affects “the integrity” of the site.
The case continues today.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 16 March 2009
Plans to knock down landmark Galway hotel
Businessman Gerry Barrett plans to demolish the Corrib Great Southern Hotel in Galway, just weeks after local controversy about the zoning of the hotel site.
A company called MD Merlin Developments, which is controlled by Barrett’s Edward Holdings, has sought permission to demolish the 175-bedroom, five-storey hotel. The hotel is on a site of 6.5 acres on the Dublin Road close to Galway city.
Barrett could not be contacted for comment last week, and it is not clear what he plans to do with the site if his application is successful. At a meeting of Galway city council last month, an independent councillor, Declan McDonnell, proposed that the hotel site be rezoned for commercial use, which could significantly increase its value.
The motion was supported by Labour Party councillor Tom Costello, but was opposed by the city manager, Joe McGrath. While McDonnell withdrew the proposal, the matter is likely to arise again next month when the Galway city development plan comes under review.
Barrett bought the Corrib hotel in 2006 when he paid a total of €140 million for it with the Great Southern hotels on Eyre Square in Galway and in Killarney in Kerry. He sold the Killarney hotel and rebranded the Eyre Square hotel as the Meyrick.
The value of the Corrib hotel was not disclosed at the time, but accounts for MD Merlin Developments show the firm has fixed assets valued at €36.9 million. The firm made an after-tax loss of €2.5 million in 2007, but said another group company, Talebury Properties, had agreed to provide it with financial support.
During 2007, MD Merlin Developments received €41.5 million from its parent company, KH Kitty Hall Holdings. It also had a bank loan of €9 million, which was secured on the assets of the firm and other group companies.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
A company called MD Merlin Developments, which is controlled by Barrett’s Edward Holdings, has sought permission to demolish the 175-bedroom, five-storey hotel. The hotel is on a site of 6.5 acres on the Dublin Road close to Galway city.
Barrett could not be contacted for comment last week, and it is not clear what he plans to do with the site if his application is successful. At a meeting of Galway city council last month, an independent councillor, Declan McDonnell, proposed that the hotel site be rezoned for commercial use, which could significantly increase its value.
The motion was supported by Labour Party councillor Tom Costello, but was opposed by the city manager, Joe McGrath. While McDonnell withdrew the proposal, the matter is likely to arise again next month when the Galway city development plan comes under review.
Barrett bought the Corrib hotel in 2006 when he paid a total of €140 million for it with the Great Southern hotels on Eyre Square in Galway and in Killarney in Kerry. He sold the Killarney hotel and rebranded the Eyre Square hotel as the Meyrick.
The value of the Corrib hotel was not disclosed at the time, but accounts for MD Merlin Developments show the firm has fixed assets valued at €36.9 million. The firm made an after-tax loss of €2.5 million in 2007, but said another group company, Talebury Properties, had agreed to provide it with financial support.
During 2007, MD Merlin Developments received €41.5 million from its parent company, KH Kitty Hall Holdings. It also had a bank loan of €9 million, which was secured on the assets of the firm and other group companies.
Sunday Business Post
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
New €125m retail centre for Tuam
Plans for a new €125 million retail centre in Tuam have been submitted to Galway County Council.
If planning permission is approved, the centre will include a supermarket, department store, 55 shops and commercial units,112 residential units, a creche, a restaurant and office accommodation.
The development is proposed for the Palace Centre Site and will have the Bishop’s Palace as a centrepiece. The palace is a seven-bay, three-storey over-basement house dating from about 1790.
It became part of the Presentation convent school and was renovated for use as a restaurant and offices in the mid-1990s.
The scheme has be en dubbed Palace Centre @ Tuam and will have 29,540 square metres of floor space, including just under 950 basement and surface parking spaces.
It will be developed by Joe and Helen O’Toole, who own the SuperValu in the town.
‘‘This development will reinvigorate the centre of Tuam and contribute significantly to the ongoing development of Tuam as a key arterial town in Co Galway,” said Joe O’Toole.
John Mannion of letting agent DNG John Mannion said ‘‘that the proposal will create a vibrant retail identity for Tuam and will provide the local population with the type of shopping facilities they deserve’’.
The planning application seeks permission for a supermarket of just under 2,900 square metres, a department store of 1,300 metres and a 3,000 square metre household store.
The development includes some of the proposed inner relief road and will also feature an open landscaped plaza around the Bishop’s Palace.
It was designed by OKM Architects in Galway.
Tuam is 30 minute drive north of Galway and has a population of about 6,000 people.
Sunday Business Post
If planning permission is approved, the centre will include a supermarket, department store, 55 shops and commercial units,112 residential units, a creche, a restaurant and office accommodation.
The development is proposed for the Palace Centre Site and will have the Bishop’s Palace as a centrepiece. The palace is a seven-bay, three-storey over-basement house dating from about 1790.
It became part of the Presentation convent school and was renovated for use as a restaurant and offices in the mid-1990s.
The scheme has be en dubbed Palace Centre @ Tuam and will have 29,540 square metres of floor space, including just under 950 basement and surface parking spaces.
It will be developed by Joe and Helen O’Toole, who own the SuperValu in the town.
‘‘This development will reinvigorate the centre of Tuam and contribute significantly to the ongoing development of Tuam as a key arterial town in Co Galway,” said Joe O’Toole.
John Mannion of letting agent DNG John Mannion said ‘‘that the proposal will create a vibrant retail identity for Tuam and will provide the local population with the type of shopping facilities they deserve’’.
The planning application seeks permission for a supermarket of just under 2,900 square metres, a department store of 1,300 metres and a 3,000 square metre household store.
The development includes some of the proposed inner relief road and will also feature an open landscaped plaza around the Bishop’s Palace.
It was designed by OKM Architects in Galway.
Tuam is 30 minute drive north of Galway and has a population of about 6,000 people.
Sunday Business Post
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