Loughrea’s local area plan will be extended for up to five years as there is more than enough residential and commercial land zoned under the current planning blueprint that has not been developed.
Valerie Loughnane of the Forward Planning Department in Galway County Council told a Loughrea Municipal District meeting that the current six-year area plan had a population growth target of 1,133 with a housing land requirement of 22 hectares (54 acres).
That remained a valid population target five years on and there had been limited development in the town since the plan was adopted in 2012.
“There is no evidence that this is going to change substantially in the immediate period ahead. Practically all of the 22 hectares that are required for phase one residential development remain undeveloped and the terms of the local area plan limits the extent of development in Loughrea to that amount to ensure compliance with the core strategy,” she stated in a report to councillors.
She said local area plans would be prepared for Tuam and Clifden first before the Council would turn its attention to Loughrea, Oranmore and Athenry.
By deferring the process, staff could use updated figures from the most-recent Census and benefit from the national planning framework due to be updated.
Cllr Joe Byrne (FG) said in the past ten years town centres had been decimated due to the development of retail parks outside so the next plan should really concentrate on consolidating businesses and homes at the heart of the towns.
“In Gort, there is a huge element of vacancies in the town centre. I’m concerned if we develop out-of-town centres, are we effectively going to shut down towns?”
His comments were reiterated by Cllr Jimmy McClearn (FG) who said Irish towns should not repeat the mistakes of the recent past and should protect town centres.
Cllr Michael Fahy (Ind) said he had been approached by Loughrea businesspeople who were concerned at recent applications for changes to existing planning permission at the Loughrea Shopping Centre at Rathruddy, where Aldi and Supervalu are currently located.
“They claim there’s a threat or a move on to get businesses located to the Athenry Road. This would be detrimental to the town centre. We should ensure the businesses are encouraged to come into the centres.”
Director of Services Jim Cullen said the matter should probably not be discussed in an open forum and the discussion should only focus on whether to defer the local area plan.
Cllr Shane Donnellan (FF) said he believed there would be no building in Loughrea in the next ten years, “never mind five [years]”.
“I’ve been speaking to developers recently and I don’t think the price is right,” he opined.
“We’ve worked with local businesses to get a reduction in the rates for new start-up businesses in empty premises and it’s there, it’s live, but there’s not much take on it.
“To make our towns vibrant, we need to look at the regulations involved. There is an awful lot of red tape to bringing life into our towns, I’m talking about the upper floors. There’s any amount of upstairs units sitting vacant or derelict. That’s an area we need to focus on.”
Fine Gael’s Michael ‘Mogie’ Maher said there were landowners in Loughrea who wanted to develop land which had been zoned residential under phase two but as the land in phase one had not been built on, they were unable to go ahead with their projects.
Ms Loughnane said land that had not been developed during the lifetime of the plan would be re-examined in the next one.
“We can’t keep rezoning lands that are not coming to the market,” she stated.
“I completely agree with you in terms of our town centres. We are looking at a fresh approach . . . zoning outside for commercial purposes leaves it difficult to consolidate. We need to be more focused . . . Loughrea is one of the most pleasant towns in the county so we hope to bring more things back into the town centre.”
A final decision on whether to defer the local area plan would be voted on by all Galway county councillors.
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