An Bord Pleanála has rejected a proposal for more than 110 homes on a site in Bearna under new fast-track planning legislation – telling the developer there should be up to 200 homes on the site.
Burkeway Homes sought permission to develop 113 homes on an 18-acre site on the Bearna-Moycullen Road under new ‘Strategic Housing Development’ regulations which came into law last year and is aimed at tackling the housing crisis.
In its decision to refuse planning permission, the Board said the proposal would not develop the land at Truskey East (adjoining the Heather Hill/Cnoc Fraoigh estate) at sufficiently high density.
Developer Michael Burke told the Connacht Tribune his design team is already working on a new proposal and he intends to lodge a new application with the Board in the next few weeks, with hopes construction can begin this summer, creating up to 150 jobs.
“The team at Burkeway Homes was scheduled to commence on the Truskey East site in early spring. While the An Bord Pleanála decision will delay this somewhat, it does provide the opportunity for us to bring to the market a greater number and variety of quality homes on this fantastic site.
“Since we received the planning decision, we have been busy working with our architects on a revised scheme incorporating the feedback from the An Bord Pleanála decision. We intend to lodge a resubmission again under the Strategic Housing Development process in the coming weeks.
“On this basis, we are confident that we will be in a position to start work on site in late summer with a Phase 1 launch of the development before the end of the year,” said Mr Burke.
The original application was for 46 detached homes, 64 semi-detached and two terraced units (72 four-bed homes, 33 three-bed and 8 two-bed), and six pedestrian link bridges, with a pedestrian route to Bearna village.
Third party submissions on the application raised concerns about excessive scale and density, inadequate facilities to cater for additional population, and whether there is a need for such a volume of new homes in Bearna, given the 10.3% area vacancy rate recorded in Census 2016.
Residents in the adjoining estate also raised concerns about increased traffic, an inadequate road network and a history of flooding on the site.
Galway County Council submitted that it was “favourably disposed to a grant pf permission”, but said conditions should be attached, including a stipulation that a minimum of 20% of the homes should be restricted for Irish speakers.
In its decision to refuse permission, the Board wrote: “The site of the proposed development 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.
“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.
“In addition, the proposed development does not have an adequate mix of dwelling types, being predominantly semi-detached and detached housing.
“It is considered that the low density proposed would be contrary to these aforementioned Ministerial Guidelines, which indicate that net densities less than 30 dwellings per hectare should generally be discouraged in the interests of land efficiency.
“The proposed development would therefore be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area,” the Board wrote.
The Burkeway proposal is understood to have been the first such ‘fast-track’ planning application outside of Dublin. The legislation can be used by a developer planning 100 or more houses or for student accommodation with more than 200 bed spaces (where the land is appropriately zoned).
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