The way has been cleared for almost 170 homes to be built in the Ballinfoile-Castlegar area as Galway City Council has given the green light to the project.

Planning permission has been granted for the 168 houses and apartments development on an 11.4-acre site north of Bóthar an Chóiste.

Lock House Developments Limited revised their plans after their initial designs for a 170-home project on the site were rejected last year by An Bord Pleanála, which criticised its design and layout.

That project, which had been submitted directly to the higher planning authority as a Strategic Housing Development, bypassing Galway City Council, was intended to be acquired by Co-operative Housing Ireland for use as social housing.

An application for planning permission for the current Large Scale Residential Development was submitted to Galway City Council in May this year.

Owned by property developer Tom Broderick and businessman Mick Culhane, Lock House Developments plan to build 70 two-storey houses, including 36 two-bedroom homes, 26 three-beds and 8 four-beds. Two apartment blocks are to be built, comprising 54 apartments (27 one-beds and 27 two-beds), along with 44 duplex units (19 one-beds and 25 two-beds).

An existing house on the site, along with another ruined dwelling and a ruined outbuilding, are to be demolished to make way for the development, which will also have a two-storey creche facility catering for up to 45 children.

The company is to carry out road improvements and widening of the Bóthar an Chóiste road and the layout of the estate will include a greenway along the western boundary.

A planner’s report for Galway City Council concluded that the new design addressed the concerns raised by An Bord Pleanála in its refusal of the original project.

It included “a hierarchy of functional open spaces with a range of different recreation facilities interlinked with permeability and links through the site in conjunction with an improved greenway design and notably the omission and curtailment of overtly dominant centralised hard surface areas”.

Addressing concerns about traffic volumes, the report says that a Traffic and Transportation Assessment had found that the additional homes would result in a minor increase in both delays and queueing for traffic streams in the morning and evening peaks at the three local junctions, but with no more than two vehicles in the queue.

Pictured: An image showing how part of the 168-home scheme will look like.