By Brendan Carroll

City planners have warned the developers of a proposed nursing home in Salthill that they need to scale back their plans – after they submitted a planning application to build a 154-bedroom facility.

Planning permission had previously been granted by An Bord Pleanála, in 2019, for a 60-bedroom nursing home on the site of the former Warwick Hotel.

But a new application was lodged with Galway City Council last month, seeking planning permission for a 154-bedroom facility on a site encompassing the former Warwick site, and that of the adjoining former Oasis nightclub, a former small shop unit and two semi-detached houses next door – all of which have been demolished.

Bartra Property (Galway NH) Limited are proposing to build a part four-storey, part five-storey development on the 1.3 acre extended site.

The owners of the Warwick site, Sharon and Paul Conlon of Rushmany Nursing Home Ltd, purchased the former hotel at the end of 2015 for a figure believed to be in the region of €700,000 and the following year secured planning permission for its demolition.

They were granted planning permission by Galway City Council for a 60-bed nursing home, a decision that was confirmed by An Bord Pleanála in 2019 after the sole objector failed to turn up at an oral hearing into his appeal.

The new application, encompassing the hotel site and the site of the adjoining properties, has been made by Bartra, a company owned by Mike Flannery, a major property developer – among the large projects his company is involved in is the O’Devaney Gardens redevelopment in Dublin, which will deliver more than 1,000 new homes

He also a director of Bartra Healthcare, a group of nursing homes and transitional care units.

The application describes Rushmany Nursing Home Ltd as still being the landowner of the main development site.

This week, city planners sought further information on the new planning application.

In a letter to the developers, they said that the proposed development, located on lands which are zoned in part residential and are not fully zoned CI [Commercial/Retail] would exceed the permitted plot ratio of 1.25:1 for CI zoned lands.

“In this case it is considered that the proposed development would need to be revised, reducing the size of the floor area in order to meet the requirements of the CDP,” it added.

Bartra have also been asked to give further information on a number of other aspects of the proposed development, including concerns about its proximity to the adjacent junction (with Lenaboy Park), the need for a climate Scheme Sustainability Statement, a ‘glint and glare’ study of possible effects on air traffic such as the UHG helicopter pad, and a report on shadow impacts.