Galway Bay fm newsroom - There's anger and frustration among local county councillors at allegedly being "left in the dark" over plans for the former Galway Airport site in Carnmore.
It follows the backing of a plan by Galway City Councillors to lease a portion of the site to a film industry group.
The former airport is jointly owned by Galway City and County Council - except some county councillors seemingly only learned of the latest proposal when it was reported in local media.
Since it was jointly purchased in 2013, there's been long-running discussions over what exactly will be done with the site.
At this week's meeting of Galway City Council, councillors gave the green light to lease part of the site to Spiddal-based film company Danú media.
Because the site is joint-owned with the county council, it'll also come up for discussion and approval at a meeting of all 39 county councillors later this month.
But members of the Athenry-Oranmore district are particularly incensed at the development - as they had zero prior knowledge of the plans until they were publicly reported.
At a meeting of the district, Councillor Jim Cuddy pointed out that he only learned about the proposal when it was reported on local radio the following morning.
Councillors were in agreement that it was an extremely disrespectful move that they had not first been consulted, given the airport is physically located in their district.
Councillor James Charity argued the Athenry-Oranmore district should have been the first port of call as a courtesy, well before any discussions began on the partial lease.
Councillors were keen to stress that they're absolutely not against leasing a part of the site for use in the film industry.
Their issue is being left entirely "in the dark" over the proposal - as well as the fact that there appears to be very little in the way of a cohesive masterplan for the longer term future of the site.
It's expected the issue will be raised at the full meeting of Galway County Council later this month - where Athenry-Oranmore councillors will likely be very vocal in expressing their discontent.
