Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Galway City Council has been flat out consulting ever since it sealed the Crown Square deal to move City Hall from College Road to Mervue.

There have been public consultations about everything. You name it, they’ve consulted the public about it.

The Council arranged public consultation about Kingston and Millar’s Lane Neighbourhood Parks.

There was a public consultation about Renmore masterplan, and South Park masterplan.

The city’s proposed – and long delayed – Flood Relief Scheme is getting several public consultations, statutory and non-statutory, and more just to be sure to be sure.

Galway’s citizens have been consulted on the Woodquay Park Public Realm Enhancements, although the Council appeared to ignore the feedback from residents on that.

They’ve had online consultations and drop-in consultation days for public realm plans back The West. There’s been non-stop consulting the public about Salthill; be it a controversial cycle-lane or new Salthill Village and Framework Plan, or plan for Leisureland and Salthill Park.

Public consultation has happened around various Safe Routes to School projects. It’s the same for Active Travel schemes at Eglinton Canal and in Roscam, and at Ballybane and Castlepark to name a few – all these projects involved ticking the public consultation box.

We’ve had public consultation about Bóthar Stiofáin cycle network and about plans to renovate Nuns’ Island Theatre and Church House.

The Council has consulted the public about its night-time economy strategy; about Cross Street rejuvenation plans; about water quality at beaches; green spaces strategy; its heritage plans; Local Property Tax; and commercial rates in the annual budget.

There has been public consultation about new bridges (Droichead an Dóchais and Wolfe Tone) and old bridges (Salmon Weir and Wolfe Tone), new roads and upgrades of old roads, and BusConnects.

They’ve consulted the public about rain gardens at junctions, and bus priority measures in Parkmore, and a Climate Action Plan.

There was public consultation about new housing at Dyke Road, about the City Development Plan, and Local Economic and Community Plan.

You get the picture. Public consultation is the new black in Galway City Council. There is no end to the public consultation.

It’s so fashionable now, the Council created an “online consultation portal”. We kid you not. There’s so much consultation going on in Galway City Council these days, they’ve created a special place on the local authority website dedicated to making consulting the public more streamlined.

This is great, says you. More consultation leads to a better-informed public. And that means people are the more likely to get on board and take ownership of projects that they contributed to through public consultation. We get it, public consultation is good.

But why, oh, why, oh why, did Galway City Council not consult the public before it saddled its citizens with decades of debt to buy Crown Square for new offices that nobody knew were needed?

Not only did the Council not consult the public, but it also didn’t invite public expressions of interest from other potential property owners or landowners who might have had alternative land or buildings suitable for a new City Hall. Why? Maybe ask the public . . .

Pictured: City Council Chief Executive Leonard Cleary: Maybe it’s time for the local authority to have a public consultation on why there was no public consultation on moving City Hall from College Road to Crown Square.