Draft Galway City Development Plan 2023-2029

There is no sense of the required urgency that is necessary to address the existential threat of the climate emergency. The most recent IPCC report delivered a stark ‘Final Warning’ that we have only 3 years left to commence significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

There is no sense of the transformational change that is required. The draft plan represents only incremental change from the previous plan. There is no evidence that the draft plan will deliver a just transition in accordance with environmental and social justice.

The Office of the Planning Regulator recently published an OPR Case Study Paper CSP05 - Climate Action and the Local Authority Development Plan. The following is taken from the Study Paper:

“Some of the key building blocks identified in the report for more climate action focused local development plans include:

• Build More Robust Evidence Bases: Every local authority development plan should start with an understanding of existing greenhouse gas emissions in that local authority area linking back to the national targets.
• Set Measurable Targets: Ireland’s overall target to decarbonize, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050, needs to be quickly broken down across the local authority areas for clarity in the planning process in the roles local communities must play. For example, a target could be set to ensure that a certain proportion of new housing is located within a certain distance of a public transport node.
• Identify Co-Benefits: Local authorities need to recognize and promote the co-benefits of climate action measures. These include the benefits associated with revitalizing and regenerating towns and villages, social and economic development (just transition and local jobs), biodiversity (rewilding and carbon sinks) and improved quality of life, health and wellbeing (greenways and blueways).
• Deliver More Consistency in Policy Formulation: Significant inconsistencies have arisen both within some local authority development plans and between plans of neighbouring local authorities that work against co-ordinated climate action.
• Adopt Clearer Policy Objectives: Evidence based and co-ordinated planning approaches across local authorities is vital to inform clear policy objectives that enable proper measurement of progress in implementation. What can’t be measured, cannot be effectively monitored.
• Promote More Collaboration and Partnership: Development plan preparation in some areas has tended to lead to local controversies in the past around topics like the location of windfarms.”

Recommendation:
The development plan must include the above building blocks which are absent from the Draft GCDP.

Recommendation;
Galway City Council should support the Gluas Very Light Rail committee’s campaign to have a feasibility study undertaken on a zero-emissions Very Light Rail System for Galway City and the MASP as part of the review of the GTS.

9.2 Water Quality

Recommendation:
Galway City Council should not permit any development where the wastewater collection network is inadequate to convey wastewater arising from the proposed development to the Mutton Island Wastewater Treatment Plant for treatment without activating Storm Water Overflows during rainfall events where the intensity and quantity of rainfall is less than that provided for in ‘Unusual Weather Conditions” in Technical Amendment C to the licence.

9.4 Water Services
Due to inadequacies in the wastewater collection network, there are frequent discharges to watercourses from Storm Water Overflows during relatively light rainfall events.

Recommendation:

1. Galway City Council should work in close liaison with Irish Water to upgrade the wastewater collection network to ensure compliance with Waste Water Discharge Licence D0050-01, and in particular to ensure that all Storm Water Overflows are compliant with the criteria in the DoEHLG ‘Procedures and Criteria in Relation to Storm Water Overflows’ and thus eliminate all discharges from Storm Water Overflows during rainfall events where the intensity and quantity of rainfall is less than that provided for in ‘Unusual Weather Conditions” in Technical Amendment C to the licence.
2. Galway City Council should work in close liaison with Irish Water to provide an adequate wastewater collection network and wastewater treatment facilities to cater for future development on the east side of the cityin Oranmore, future development of the Ardaun LAP area, and future development within the MASP on the east side of the River Corrib.

9.7 Air Quality
The results from the Air Quality monitor in Eyre Square commissioned in January 2022 are far in excess of the WHO 2021 Guidelines.

Recommendation:

1. Galway City Council should take whatever measures are necessary to reduce Nitrogen Dioxide concentrations in the air in Eyre Square to below the WHO Guidelines.
2. Galway City Council should arrange to have an appropriate number of air quality monitors installed in Galway City for both Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5) in the interest of protecting public health