House Building Gathers Pace

Along with the release from May onwards of the 165 social and affordable dwellings directly south of Tesco, many more residential schemes  have been granted permission since Christmas.
 
Ballinasloe Municipal Council is finalising start of the part eight process at  Dooley’s Corner Dunlo Hill and expanding the St. Joseph’s estate. Dunlo Hill will be refurbished, consisting of 15 dwellings at the with a mixture of 1 to 2 bedroom units and will be targeted for elderly people. St. Josephs estate is getting  eight two-storey terraces with 2 bedroom units each designed for families.
 
Galway County Council has recently approved plans for 34 new dwellings along Church Road and in Kilgrave, Creagh beside Roscarn.  Theses private properties will be double storied ranging from 2 to 3 bed units, and from semi-detached to terrace housing. Included with this development will be road access to the R446, communal green space in the estates centre, bicycle parking areas, footpaths, public lighting, 77 parking spaces, and connections to the town’s water facilities.
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The original development was to consist of 36 housing but the panners removed two of the dwellings to provide additional communal space. The Council will also receive four of these properties in providing social and affordable housing in accordance to Part V planning law requirements. Additionally the contractors Leadlane LTD will pay €136,123 in development costs to maintain facilities within the area.
 
Planning was confirmed prior to December for 8 dwellings featured at Bachelor’s Walk led by contractors Brian and Brenda Connolly. This development consisted of an infill project which will contribute to and finish the residential scheme on this estate. The eight detached houses will feature six four bedroom units and an additional two larger units.
 
In Portnick – Moycarn a lapsed planning decision of 2014 but reactivated by the developer in 2019 for 16 detached two story dwellings and 10 semi-detached two stories – has less than a year to commence.
 
34 Houses have had their foundations poured in the Church St Social and first phase Affordable development , with An Bord Pleanála grappling with how many bungalows to allocate in the low density area of housing in Creagh.
 
Regarding the planning application put forward by Limehill Esker for 165 housing behind Tesco, there has been no official decision made from An Bord Pleanála which was due to be finalized last December. The planning application for this site was made by Limehill Esker which would include 106 apartments and duplexes, 27 three-bed terraced housing and 32-bed semi-detached with two-beds.
 
This will bring us to a total of 256 housing new units in the  pipeline within our town, plus providing an availability for hundreds of people to live in Ballinasloe, with nearly 199 being built.
 
With a local housing need list in the MDC area of about 800 plus – it appears that nearly 50 % could be accommodated with the 80% of new builds demised being for social and affordable housing.