Permission given for 203 apartments in Galway

AN BORD Pleanála has granted developer Bernard McNamara permission to demolish the Galway Irish Crystal building on the outskirts of Galway city and build more than 200 apartments there.

The appeals board overruled its own inspector in granting the permission with 22 conditions. Galway City Council had turned down permission for the plan last year due to the density and scale of the proposed development.

An Bord Pleanála granted approval to Mr McNamara's company, Crepley Ltd, on the 4.6 acre site on the grounds that the proposal "would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity", and would "be acceptable" in terms of "traffic safety and convenience".

It said that conditions set would overcome reasons for refusal given by its inspector. These conditions relate to access, landscaping and provision of public space.

Mr McNamara's company had sought approval to demolish all existing structures and build 203 apartments of one, two and three bedrooms in four to five storey-blocks. The plan also involves providing 50 surface and 153 underground car parking spaces on the lands at Murroogh townland on the Dublin road.

Galway City Council rejected the application in April 2007, saying the site was identified in the city development plan as in "established suburbs" where the local authority had a duty to ensure the character and local identity in the area would not be adversely affected. Excessive scale, layout, massing, residential mix, amenity open-space provision, overlooking and arrangements for refuse storage were also identified as issues by the local authority, which said the development would be out of character and would have a density almost twice that set out in the city development plan.

Mr McNamara appealed the ruling to An Bord Pleanála.

He bought the site in February 2006 for an undisclosed figure. The guide price for sale had been cited at €15 million.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times