In a impressively comprehensive submission to the Galway City Development plan 2023-2029 the Save Roscam Peninsula campaign has called on the City Council to protect the unique archaeological, cultural and open spaces of the Roscam Peninsula.
The submission calls for the Low Density Residential (LDR ) zoning of the Roscam Peninsula to be reversed and the area zoned Agricultural/ High Amenity as part of a broad strategy aimed at enhancing the liveability of the city and improving the wellbeing of city residents.
The submission also calls for more pressure to be applied to ensure that planning permissions are acted upon expeditiously.
It says there is a clear need to move to a “use it or lose it” approach for the award of planning permissions with the imposition of tight deadlines for delivery of finished units before additional permissions and/or zoning are awarded.
It also says that the zoning of additional lands for housing is premature, closes out real options in terms of transport, mobility, energy efficiency green space and other developments and should be restrained until the ratio of approvals to completions is addressed.
It also recommends that Galway City Council should prioritise rejuvenation, key current derelict vacant sites and brown fields for immediate compact development, under tight approval and completion deadlines. It added that special consideration should be given to developments that facilitate community housing and shared ownership schemes
The Roscam Peninsula has a number of important characteristics which make it unique asset to the city, including a coastal Green Network, protected views of Galway Bay, numerous Protected Monuments and Registered Protected Structures, two European (Natura ) Protected Sites – the Galway Bay SAC and the Inner Galway Bay SPA and a proposed National Heritage Area.
The submission was drawn up because the five-year cycle of city development plans will see a new Galway City Development Plan for 2023-2029.
“The previous plans – the 2005-2011 and 2017-2023 plans – brought fundamental and unwarranted intrusions on the Roscam Peninsula. The results of which were a diminution of the overall quality of the existing cultural, archaeological, recreational, and environmental assets in the area,’ the submission states.
“These assets are of high amenity importance to the established suburbs of Renmore, Ballybane and Merlin Park, and outer suburb of Doughiska. The Covid19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of these assets to these surrounding communities and reinforced the role that quality recreational and open spaces play in sustaining community passive and active wellbeing during times of crisis.”
Dr Martin Fahy, a spokesman for the campaign said this week that the new city development plan is an opportunity to reverse the ill-advised zonings of the past.
“It is time to put the wellbeing and housing needs of young working families ahead of the interests of property developers.
“The Covid-19 crisis has shown how important open green spaces close to the city are to our wellbeing.
“We can have affordable housing and a sustainable liveable city, but we need to reverse the bad zoning decisions of the past and protect our unique coastal parklands,” he said.
