Councillor slams breach of planning on protected wall
The city’s planning enforcement department and the Lough Corrib Navigation Trustees have been lambasted for “sitting on their hands” while a protected wall was demolished and an entrance built from it to a private dwelling.
The Lough Corrib Navigation Trustees, run by a board of directors made up of council officials and councillors, is the legal owner and manager of waterways and water infrastructure in the city.
Galway City Councillor Pádraig Conneely said he had been contacted by Henry Street residents who were alarmed to see that part of the wall along the Eglinton Canal tow path behind their homes was being knocked.
He said he alerted the Galway City Council’s enforcement section.
However, when officials visited the site they were unable to talk with anyone. A search of the land registry found no record of the owners after the property was sold last December.
Cllr Conneely said he, too, visited the property and was able to talk with workers who are building an extension to the house. He also found out without much difficulty who had bought the home.
“So they knew this was happening and they did nothing to stop it. All they did was issue a letter or two. What good is that after the horse has bolted,” he fumed.
“This wall is a protected structure and a part of the real old Galway going back to the foundation of the city. It’s actually owned by the Lough Corrib Navigation Trustees and no entries or exits have been allowed on it for at least 50 years.”
A letter from the Lough Corrib Navigation Trustees sent to the owner states that the wall does not form part of the property register and is listed as a protected structure under the Galway City Council Development Plan as it is constructed using excavated stone from the canal.
It states that the board of the trustees is seeking legal advice on the issue.
“So now they are going into legal proceedings which will take years and years and cost a lot of money instead of acting immediately when I contacted them while the job was still going on. They’ll probably ask the owner to restore the wall but there will be retention applications and all sorts of nonsense,” said Cllr Conneely.
“The residents are very upset. This is a very old part of the city and should not be touched by anybody. Who’s going to protect the heritage of the city if the Council won’t?”
Derrick Hambleton, chairman of the Galway branch of the environmental watchdog An Taisce, said the Eglinton canal, banks and tow path are protected.
“Also included are the walls, which are part of the canals curtilage. I understand that it is not policy to allow openings through this wall.”
A spokesman for Galway City Council said the matter had come to the attention of Galway City Council “in the past couple of days”.
“A warning letter is being issued to the property owners in relation to the unauthorised development,” he told the Galway City Tribune.