An Taisce has confirmed it will not bring a court challenge against the granting of permission for a new wastewater facility at Merlin Park – a key element of the infrastructure needed for the building of potentially thousands of homes on lands to the east of the city.

An appeal by the heritage watchdog against Galway City Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the installation of a huge underground wastewater holding tank has been rejected by An Coimisiún Pleanála.

The facility has been described as vital to the unlocking of huge tracts of land east of the city for housing – up to 4,640 homes accommodating a population of more than 12,000 are planned for Ardaun, an area comprising 164 hectares of greenfield land, while Galway County Council has earmarked lands at neighbouring Garraun for 1,000 houses.

Fears had been aired in recent months by some city councillors that a judicial review might be sought of any decision by the higher planning authority to give Uisce Éireann the green light for the development.

But the Galway branch of An Taisce has confirmed to the Galway City Tribune that it will not bring such a court challenge.

Peter Butler, Chairperson of the An Taisce Planning Committee for Galway, said that they welcomed the approval of the almost one million litres wastewater storage tank, to be installed in an eight-metres deep cavity at the site of the current pumping station, which has no holding tank facility currently.

“We are disappointed, however, that An Coimisiún Pleanála did not require Uisce Éireann to state what additional house-building capacity the tank would provide.

“Also, we are disappointed that An Coimisiún Pleanála did not require Uisce Eireann to state what reductions in frequency and volume of untreated wastewater into the Inner Galway Bay Special Area of Conservation would result from the tank.

“The An Taisce Planning Committee for Galway will not be appealing the decision to the High Court,” Mr Butler said in response to queries from the Galway City Tribune.

Uisce Éireann had previously been granted planning permission for the development by city planners in 2023, but withdrew the application after An Taisce appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála. In lodging a new application in July last year, it said this addressed some concerns aired by the local authority.

The company said that the proposed 949 cubic metres storage tank would provide additional combined sewerage (both stormwater and foul water) storage capacity for 25 years of projected population growth, in both the existing area served and additional development in the eastern part of the city. It would also reduce the frequency of overflows from sewerage networks.

“The design of the storage tank also has an allowance for future gravity foul sewerage flows from development lands at Ardaun and other areas to the east of Galway City which have been zoned for various uses in the Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029 and for other development lands in the areas served by the existing sewerage network.”

An Taisce, in its appeal to An Bord Pleanála (now An Coimisiún Pleanála) argued that the development did not come close to addressing deficiencies in Galway’s wastewater network, with regular wastewater discharges into Galway Bay.

It complained that the rationale for a storage tank at this location were not set out in detail, and other important information was missing from the application, and until the Galway Drainage Area Plan was complete, the need for the development could not be known for certain.

But Senior Planning Inspector Stephen Rhys Thomas, in his report to the board of Am Coimisiún Pleanála, recommended that permission be granted, subject to a number of conditions, for the giant tank, to be located at the site of the current pumping station off the Dublin Road, between Merlin Stores and Galway Crystal.

He said that the new wastewater storage tank would facilitate network improvements upstream in the Ardaun and eastern Galway City area, unlocking zoned land for development and eliminating spill frequency

“On the one hand, this UÉ project will enable future development to occur whilst addressing storm water overflow events in the future.

“I am satisfied that there is a need for the proposed underground tank at this location and that it fits in with the strategic goals of UÉ to improve wastewater infrastructure for the area as a whole and consequently improve water quality,” he said.

Mr Rhys Thomas added that the concern expressed by An Taisce was that other more important infrastructural improvements would be delayed or cancelled by concentrating on an ad hoc or non-strategic approach to infrastructural improvements.

“I cannot address these wider issues in the context of this development that will ultimately improve matters both environmentally and infrastructurally.

“The broad environmental issues raised by third parties are well known and the applicant has pointed to the draft Galway Wastewater Strategy, as the way forward to improve things for the city, its citizens and the environment,” he said.

Pictured: The 400 acres of greenfield land in Ardaun that could be developed for housing, with the Galway Clinic at the bottom left.  Image: Google Earth.