Docks and Ceannt Station masterplan urged to avoid past mistakes
The absence of an overall vision and masterplan for the area around Ceannt Station and Galway Harbour has been criticised in Dáil Éireann.
Galway West TD Catherine Connolly (Ind) urged the Tánaiste Simon Coveney to “use whatever legal power is available to him” to ensure a local area action plan is developed for the city centre “prior to any strategic zone being adopted for the lands in question”.
Deputy Connolly said the Government hasn’t learned from mistakes of the past when there was an over-reliance on the free market to provide housing.
To emphasise the point, she said the city had a population of 80,000 and a housing waiting list of 13,000 people that stretches back to 2001.
Deputy Connolly said: “Lands in the inner city, at Ceannt Station where 14 acres of land is available and in the inner docklands area where more than two hectares is available, have been earmarked as key regenerative areas, but there is no master plan, area action plan or overall vision.
“We are back to developer-led development. Development in Galway, where land has been zoned and public land is available at Ceannt Station and the docks, is developer-led on the sites that have been sold.
“Moreover, the authorities are in the process of selling public land at the Ceannt Station site. There is no master plan or local area plan in a city with a development plan that demands and sets out objectives for such plans and refers to sustainable development, mixed communities and the development of communities in the city.
“A regional plan was also drawn up further to a discussion document that referred to moving away from developer-led development and learning lessons. No lessons have been learned. Not one house has been constructed with public funds in Galway since 2009.”
Concluding the debate, she urged the Tánaiste, “to use whatever legal power is available to him to intervene in Galway and listen to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government which, in its previous guise as the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, set out that, at a minimum, a local area action plan should be developed prior to any strategic zone being adopted for the lands in question.”
Minister Coveney said he agreed with “virtually everything” she said. “We need to ensure we rebuild a housing sector that can provide social and affordable private housing in a more effective and planned manner and do not leave this task to the vagaries of the market. This applies to Galway and many other towns and cities.
“It is for this reason that the Government will introduce a new national planning framework in the next few weeks. The purpose of the framework is to plan for 20 years ahead and for an additional one million people and to ensure cities such as Galway, Cork, Waterford and Limerick will plan in a sustainable way to accommodate the needs of people who need homes and housing,” said Minister Coveney.