GP surgery plan for Galway city ruled invalid over planning documentation errors
Plans for a GP surgery and medical practice on Quay Street have been deemed invalid after Galway City Council identified errors in the planning application.
An application to convert existing law offices in The Halls on Quay Street into a medical practice was ruled invalid because the site layout drawing was submitted at the wrong scale.
Additional documents also failed to include level-specific details on the site layout plan and did not disclose the height of the proposed structure.
LC Medical Care Limited submitted the application to Galway City Council on July 24. The applicant was notified three days later that the application was invalid.
The proposed development would see the entire existing second floor office space, along with part of the fourth floor, converted for use as a medical practice.
Plans for the second floor included six consultation rooms and a reception area, with access provided via a ground-floor stairwell from Quay Street and provision for a lift.
The site is located above Freddy’s restaurant and 250m away from Spanish Arch.
The fourth floor would be used for administrative purposes and would retain its existing office use classification, according to the application.
If a revised application is submitted, the proposed medical practice would be located in a busy city-centre area accessible by a range of transport options. The 401 and 424 bus services stop at Spanish Arch, directly across the street from the proposed site.
As the building is a protected structure, the applicant outlined measures intended to preserve its historic character.
“The proposal represents a considered, conservation-led approach to the reuse of a protected structure within the historic core of Galway city,” the application states.
“It secures the continued beneficial occupation of a building included in the Record of Protected Structures. It does so through works which are minor, lightweight and readily reversible, it retains all fabric of note including the identified stone wall panels, and it proposes no external alterations whatsoever.”
To proceed with the development, LC Medical Care Limited will need to submit a new planning application to Galway City planning offices incorporating the additional information requested by the council.
As the application is deemed invalid any site and newspaper notices published for the application must be removed.