An Bord Pleanála rejects housing plans for Lackagh

An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for the housing development in the village of Lackagh, Turloughmore.

The plan was to construct 24 detached dwelling houses and associated domestic garages and for all ancillary site works, services, street lighting, roads, footpaths, open spaces and all other works necessary to facilitate the development.

It was intended that the development would be connected to the existing private treatment plant and polishing filter constructed under a previous planning application for the village.

But the Planning Appeals Board felt that the connection to the wastewater treatment plant in the village would adequately service the proposed development.

They ruled that it would be prejudicial to public health and would be contrary to proper planning and development for the area.

A petition with more than 20 signatures opposing the development was submitted to Galway County Council when the initial planning application was submitted.

Earlier this year, the Council’s planning authority rejected the proposal to construct 24 houses that would be connected to the existing sewage treatment plant in the village.

Planners refused permission for the development at Lackagh Beg that had been submitted by Maria Flynn. It proposed to upgrade the private treatment plant that serves the site for the houses and the Flynn’s of Lackagh complex.

Planners, in turning down the planning application, said that the development of the kind proposed for the village would be premature and potentially prejudicial to public health.

This was irrespective of proposals to connect to the existing sewage treatment facilities which planners felt was not sustainable or an effective long-term solution in the absence of public services in the village.

They also said that there was an absence of evidence to confirm the adequate installation and operation of the existing system while there was also a lack of any guarantee with regard to the long-term management of the system.

It was also stated that the development’s outer edge location on an eight-acre site does not connect with the existing urban pattern of Lackagh village.

According to the planning application lodged by Maria Flynn, the proposed development was set within the Flynn’s of Lackagh complex that is serviced by public water and a private sewer.

There are adjoining residential developments – namely the Woodlands Estate which has 101 houses and Carraig Mór which has 48 – and the proposed site is accessed from the existing road that serves the graveyard and residential development adjacent to Flynn’s.

There were several submissions from residents living in the Woodlands Estate and one of these was a petition containing 23 names of those opposed to the development.

They argued that if the proposal was to proceed, it would result in noise, dirt and additional traffic during construction and would be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of the residents of Woodlands and particularly the children who reside there.

It was also stated that the addition of 24 households would exacerbate the already chronic traffic issues that occur every day on main N63 at the Roscommon-Tuam road junction.