An apartment development in Galway city centre may have to be dismantled, following a Bord Pleanála ruling against its retention. An Taisce has called again for the appointment of a city architect in the light of the appeals board's decision.
Work on the "student and tourist accommodation" development close to the Eglinton Canal area had already been halted in May 2002, after the project was found to have breached planning permission.
Marfield Developments then applied to retain changes made without original approval, and also sought to reduce the number of apartments.
Galway City Council granted retention, but it was refused last week by Bord Pleanála.
In its ruling, Bord Pleanála said "by reason of its bulk and scale in excess of the development as permitted under a previous permission", the project would "result in serious injury to the residential and visual amenities of Eglinton Canal towpath" and "detract from the character of this established residential area".
It was not satisfied the project would not encroach on to the canal towpath, and it would also be contrary to the city development plan for the area.
Residents in the New Road, Henry Street, Canal Road and Parkavera area of Galway had all appealed the original decision granted by Galway City Council, as had the Corrib Navigation Trustees - a body established under the aegis of the local authority with responsibility for the Corrib system, including the city canals.
Alderman Catherine Connolly, Labour Party councillor and representative on the Corrib Navigation Trustees, said that An Bord Pleanála's decision was a "complete indictment of the decision by the city council to grant permission in the first place".
It also highlighted the city council's "complete failure to protect the residential area, and the canal", Alderman Connolly said, and its decision to "ignore its own development plan". "From the beginning, the city council have had absolutely no regard for the Corrib Navigation Trustees, despite the fact that they hold the canals in trust for the people of Galway," she said.
Local residents had approached the trustees, and the body then sought engineers' advice and appealed the city council's decision to grant retention.
Alderman Connolly said that she would be raising the matter now in the context of the city's new development plan, which, she said, must "give special protection to the waterways/canal area in the city so that such developments will never take place again".
Mr Derrick Hambleton of An Taisce said this was the fourth decision made in the past week by An Bord Pleanála which had "cast doubt on some of the more recent planning decisions made by the planning section of Galway City Council, where heritage, environment and protection of listed and protected structures is concerned". It highlighted the need for a city architect, he said.
Mr Donal Flanagan of Marfield Developments said he had no comment to make. Galway City Council was unavailable for comment.