Golfer challenges refusal to extend planning permission

Golfer Christy O’Connor Jr has brought a High Court challenge over a dispute about planning permission he obtained for three houses on family land.

Galway City Council has refused to extend the normal five-year duration on the permission he obtained in 2008 for the one-acre site at Knocknacarra, Salthill, the court heard. An extension would allow him to build after the permission runs out next January.

The council argues that the permission can only be extended if Mr O’Connor Jr first gets an environmental assessment on the project because a small section of the south-eastern end of the site includes a prospective or “candidate” special area of conservation due to its high visual amenity.