Galway car dealer refused retention plans over ring road and ‘signage clutter’ concerns
A car dealer in Galway city has been refused retention permission due to its proximity to the Ring Road corridor.
Kearys Carstore submitted a planning application to Galway City Council on April 9 to retain the use of a commercial site in Briarhill Business Park, Doughiska, for car sales and display. Permission was also sought to retain one portacabin currently being used as staff area and office.
Planning offices refused the retention on June 3 over two reasons.
Granting permission to Kearys Carstore “could prejudice plans for the delivery” of the Galway City Ring Road, the first reason stated.
The site lies within the “road reservation corridor” for the GCRR, the Coolagh Junction, projected to be the feeder onto the N6, is in close proximity.
Galway City Council cited the “excessive proliferation and clutter of signage” adversely impacting on the area as the second reason to refuse retention permission.
In a submission to the council, TII recommended a refusal of the plans saying it would be contrary to road policy guidelines.
A submission was also lodged by BPS Planning & Development Consultants LTD on behalf of Briarhill Owners Management Company CLG which manages the business park.
The Coolagh junction is one of the last points of the GCRR before feeding onto the N6.
Kearys Carstore site layout plan submitted with the application.
Briarhill Owners Management Company CLG claimed Kearys has undergone a series of unauthorised works since moving into the space in 2025, for which enforcement notices have been delivered.
Those unauthorised works include an “excessive proliferation and clutter of signage,” which is “adversely impacting” neighbouring Western Motors, and the erection of two staff portacabins, the submission said.
Galway City Council’s planning documents also revealed “several banner type signs attached to the mesh fencing demarcating the site at various locations and a large free-standing sign positioned alongside the Parkmore Road.”
The application specified the retention of those unauthorised signs and only one portacabin. However, the site layout plan shows an additional steel teach building, and two portacabins.
Kearys did not include elevation and detail drawings of any signage nor utility connections for the portacabins in the application.
Additionally, the management company said there has been no consultation between them and the car company in regard to the retention.
“Granting retention permission in this instance would undermine the effectiveness of the planning system and set an undesirable precedent for the regularisation of similar unauthorised commercial activities within strategically important employment lands,” BPS said in its submission.
The Irish Independent reached out to Kearys Carstore for comment.