The Westside Community Galway group is ready to launch two legal challenges to the development of student accommodation that has commenced in the car park of the shopping centre off Seamus Quirke Road.

The group’s committee has been emboldened by support at a public meeting in Westside Community Centre, attended by more than 160 people who agreed to pursue a legal route to halt the development.

An Bord Pleanála had granted planning permission for the seven-storey, 240-bed student complex in Westside Shopping Centre car park with several conditions attached, despite opposition from Galway City Council.

The first legal case will ask a judge to determine whether construction work started without complying with the conditions of planning permission.

Galway City Council said the development was compliant but the community group has insisted that at least three planning conditions were not complied with before commencement, and they argue it was unauthorised.

The group has argued there was no evidence that an agreement or contract was in place with Uisce Éireann before work commenced. And it argued there was no agreement or confirmation from the HSE and UHG about the implications the development would have on safety at a nearby hospital helipad.

A second legal challenge will focus on whether Uisce Éireann took proper account of the development’s environmental impacts when it entered into a contract with this developer for a wastewater agreement.

The meeting heard that although there was no evidence that a contract had been signed by the developer and Uisce Éireann, the group will argue that issues with the pipeline network could result in discharges of untreated wastewater which would be unlawful and environmentally harmful.

The meeting last Wednesday week, chaired by Franck Martinaud, was attended by Councillors Mike Cubbard (Ind), Josie Forde (FF), Eddie Hoare (FG) and John McDonagh (Lab).

Galway West TD Catherine Connolly (Ind) and Councillor Frank Fahy (FG) sent apologies.

The campaign has ramped up fundraising to pay for the legal challenge.

Members fear the shopping centre – a focal point for the Westside community – is threatened by this development.

“Our community are working together to right this wrong and protect our amenities and our way of life,” said the group’s PRO Bernie Glynn.

Pictured: Some of the large attendance at the meeting in Westside Community Centre.