Airport sale is geared for take-off
Galway’s two local authorities are looking to offload Galway Airport for development — but need councillors on both bodies to vote to approve it.
Galway County Council and Galway City Council this week put the property on the market — and invited ‘expressions of interest’ for this “development land” at Carnmore.
A buyer is being sought for the land — jointly owned by the two Councils — which comprises 118 acres or almost 48 hectares.
The Councils have employed two selling agents — Power Property and Keane Mahony Smith — to advertise expressions of interest in local and national media.
The Councils jointly purchased the property from Galway Chamber of Commerce in November 2013 for just €1.5 million. That was two years after commercial operations ceased in 2011 following the country’s economic crash.
It’s understood the site, with frontage onto three roads, remains un-zoned, and the Councils said it could have a “multiplicity of uses subject to zoning and planning”.
The Carnmore site was referred to as a “key opportunity site” that was “vital for the economic growth of the Galway Metropolitan Area”, in the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) 2020-2032 published by the Northern & Western Regional Assembly.
In a joint statement this week, the Councils said some city and county councillors were consulted about the plan to attract buyers for the land at a joint Corporate Policy Group (CPG) meeting.
Not all councillors are members of their respective CPGs, and it was not discussed at full Council meetings of either bodies — despite Galway County Council holding a plenary meeting on Monday of this week.
A spokesperson confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that any sale of the property — which includes a car park and two hangar buildings — would need to be voted on by councillors in both local authorities.
Caption: The former Galway Airport.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.