People living several neighbouring housing estates in the Terryland area have lodged an appeal against the granting of planning permission for a 568-bedroom student apartments development on the Coolough Road.

Residents of Crestwood, Tirellan Heights, Castlelawn Heights and the Dyke Road and Menlo areas have come together in a joint objection to the huge project, which will range in height from two to five storeys.

In April, city planners gave McHugh Property Holdings the green light for the construction of 84 apartments arranged in seven blocks on the six-acre site, a short distance from the junction with the Dyke Road.

It would be directly across the Coolough Road from the site of another student complex of 257 bedrooms, which was given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála last October after neighbouring residents failed in their appeal against the Montane Developments project.

In both cases, the apartments would be used out of college term as tourist accommodation.

Now, residents have launched another battle against the larger McHugh development, which they describe as totally out of proportion with the ethos and scale of the surrounding mature area of two-storey houses and bungalows, which had developed into a friendly caring community over the years.

“This development would turn a rural Gaeltacht area into a student campus where the number of permanent residents would be outnumbered by the number of transitory students.

“If this development is allowed to go ahead it will be viewed in future years, like the buildings of the 1960s, as an example of ugly, poor and inappropriate planning.

“We need sustainable. coherent. and appropriate planning for the long term, not knee-jerk reactions to short term problems,” the residents say in a submission to An Bord Pleanála signed by representatives from a number of local areas.

Outlining their objections, they criticise the design and layout of the proposed development, along with its scale and density, and claim it does not address the pressing housing needs of the area.

“We need long-term sustainable housing for families, not expensive, short-tenth privately-owned accommodation for transient student populations.”

While the apartments would be “a good 25-30 minutes’ walk” from parts of the University campus, almost no parking spaces were provided – a total of 16 are envisaged – and the reality was that a large percentage of third-level students would own a car, with the only place to park them being the Crestwood estate.

The same problem would arise in the summer, when it was “fanciful to imagine that the vast majority of such visitors will not come to Galway by car”.

The residents’ submission points out that if this development goes ahead, it will mean that nearly 1,000 students will be living within yards of a residential community, many of whose residents are elderly.

“It is no exaggeration to say that students are well known for large raucous parties late into the night. To subject the local residents to this would be simply a grave dereliction of duty on the part of planners.

“Is it not Government policy not to have too great a concentration of students in any residential area?”

The submission also expresses concerns about the dangers to very large numbers of walking and cycling students going to college via the narrow Dyke Road.

And it warns that the proposed height and density of the apartment blocks, and the planned destruction of trees and hedgerows, would have a negative impact on flora and fauna.

It stresses that any development must be appropriate to the needs of the area and be environmentally sensitive – and good quality, affordable homes for young families were needed to sustain the community into the future.

“The future of our area cannot be determined purely by corporate greed. Between the Montane development and the already, functioning Menlo Park student apartments, the immediate area will already sustain over 400 students.

“This latest project needs to focus on housing for young families and starter homes for young people. That would be a truly sustainable and enlightened planning decision,” the residents add.

A number of individual objections have also been lodged with An Bord Pleanála, which is due to decide on the appeal by August 20.

Pictured: An image of the new proposed development as it would be viewed from the Crestwood estate.