Opponents of a major hotel and residential development proposed for Barna village in Co Galway have welcomed a decision by the backers to withdraw their planning application.
Bomac Properties had applied to Galway County Council to construct 152 residential units, offices, shops, a hotel, bar and restaurant in eight blocks,varying in height from two to three storeys, and an underground car park.
The proposal elicited over 100 letters of objection, and a petition with 2,000 signatures.
A separate application by Messrs Tom and J P Cunningham for construction of 46 apartments, a restaurant, an art gallery, craft shop, bistro, cafe and health/leisure centre with car parking and a beachfront promenade in Barna is still before the local authority. The planners have given the developers six months from late August to submit further information.
Yesterday Pobal Bearna, representing the Gaeltacht village's residents, called on Galway County Council to publish its development plan for the community before any further applications are considered.
"Planners and developers need to consult with people, and large scale development will be met by large scale opposition," Pobal Bearna's spokesman, Mr Pádraig Campbell, said yesterday.
The Green Party and An Taisce have already criticised the scale of the two separate planning applications, with the Green Party's Galway city spokesman, Mr Niall Ó Brolcháin, warning that it could turn the village into a "mini-Torremolinos".
Situated four miles west of Galway city centre and seven miles east of Spiddal, Barna has grown from a fishing and farming village of some 500 people with the safest pier along some 30 miles of coast to a semi-suburban area of some 2,500 people.
Bomac Properties were unavailable for comment yesterday.