The community in Westside has vowed to unite and fight plans to build a 240-bed student accommodation complex in the car park of the local shopping centre.

Around 80 people who attended a meeting in Westside Community Centre on Wednesday night, agreed to support a committee of residents who will drive the legal challenge against the plans.

The seven-storey student residential development off Seamus Quirke Road was granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanála – against advice of Galway City Council planners.

At a February meeting of residents, councillors confirmed the deadline had passed to object by judicial review.

But at Wednesday’s meeting, without any elected reps in attendance, Bernie Glynn – elected committee chair on the night – revealed the community could take an injunction against the development by Westside Investment Limited.

“It’s not over ’til the fat lady sings,” she said to applause. “If we go ahead with this, I believe we can win it.”

Loss of parking spaces, students parking in surrounding estates, and potential impact on the viability of the shopping centre were among the concerns.

Since February, the committee had lodged a complaint with the City Council, alleging it was an unauthorised development. This followed legal advice and advice from a civil engineer.

Ms Glynn said the committee believed three conditions of planning permission set down by An Bord Pleanála were not complied with.

These conditions included compliance issues the developer needed to undertake before construction work started.

She claimed there was no water and wastewater connection agreement with Uisce Éireann prior to commencement; and there was no consultation with the HSE with regard the development’s impact on helicopter landings at UHG.

“We could seek an injunction to stop the works and the court could order the site be put back to the way it was before the unauthorised commencement work,” she said.

Ms Glynn said it was a “complex legal issue” that required at least €30,000 to be fundraised.

She confirmed to the meeting that the developer successfully applied to the Development Contribution Waiver Scheme where Government pays development levies to the local authority. She produced documentation showing the waiver to be paid to Galway City Council was €718,974.

But Ms Glynn said the Waiver Scheme, “cannot be applicable in circumstances where there is non-compliance with planning permission”.

Another committee member, Franck Martinaud, chair of Claremont Park Residents Association, urged attendees to lobby politicians.

Mr Martinaud said he felt let down by Galway City Council which had objected to the development, but “lay down” when ABP approved it.

The Council could have “pushed it a bit further to get the planning crushed,” but they “haven’t done anything and that is extremely upsetting” he said.

Tom Lally, from the floor, said: “I think it’s worth fighting, but we won’t win it unless we do it as a unit – stand up and be counted, Westside again.”

Pictured: Some of the 80-strong crowd which attended a meeting in Westside Community Centre on Wednesday night to discuss community opposition to plans to a high-rise student accommodation complex in the car park at Westside Shopping Centre, off Seamus Quirke Road.