Council planning new full-size all-weather pitch in Coolock, but warns there’s a lack of public land for more

A promise of a new full-size all-weather pitch on Glin Road in Coolock went down well with Dublin city councillors for the North Central Area on Monday.

“The area has been starved of new investment,” said independent Councillor John Lyons at a meeting of the area committee. He had tabled a motion calling for the facility in 2021, he said.

Crucially the site, flagged by local sports clubs, is not used by brent geese, said Fergus O’Carroll, senior parks superintendent. So, the project can move quickly, he said.

At Martin Savage Park in Ashtown, new all-weather facilities are on hold after the Department of Housing told the council to assess further how the birds may be affected if new all-weather pitches are built on sites where they feed.

But it’s not just concern for brent geese holding back new playing pitches. A council report pointed to four other factors that officials say threaten either the development of new pitches, or the use of existing pitches, even as demand grows.

Challenges such as current city planning and what is built where, greater rainfall because of climate change, overuse of the existing pitches – and a lack of council recreational lands, the report says.

“There is little or no capacity to increase the play time on existing pitches and there is no capacity to accommodate new playing fields in existing public parks and open spaces,” says the report.

Competing for space

Across the city, there are 67 parks and greens, with 217 playing fields, according to the council report.

There are 110 GAA and soccer clubs registered with Dublin City Council, according to the report. Many clubs have multiple under-age teams, women’s teams and teams at different levels.

The council report predicts increased demand, as people are playing until they are older, the population is growing, and more women and girls have joined up too.

“Unfortunately, unlike other Dublin local authorities which have a larger land bank and multiple ‘regional parks’ the City is at capacity,” says the report. “That is being reflected in competition between clubs and friction with Dublin City Council for access to playing fields.”

A case in point is St Anne’s Park pitches, where 370 teams use 30 pitches. There is constant competition to use them, said O’Carroll at the meeting.

That squeeze was worsened because of the heavy rains this spring, which meant many were unplayable for stretches.

“The issue of the pitches in St Anne’s comes up continuously,” said Social Democrats Councillor Catherine Stocker. She asked O’Carroll if officials would meet with the sports clubs. “I think the clubs have legitimate concerns and frustrations.”

Naoise Ó Muirí, the Fine Gael councillor, tabled a motion, seconded by Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney, calling on council officials to meet the clubs in August or September “to build a partnership approach with a view to resolving pitch playability and drainage issues in St Anne’s Park”.

O’Carroll said that the council is doing everything it can to try to resolve the issues.

The nine clubs that play in St Anne’s are victims of their own success, it seems. The report mentions how they’ve more female teams, so more demand for pitches.

That in turn causes issues, said O’Carroll. Overuse of pitches means they are more likely to become unplayable in bad weather, he said.

He agreed to meet with the clubs but rejected a suggestion by councillors that some matches which were called off could have been played.

“The inspection regime is quite thorough,” said O’Carroll. “I don’t believe we are calling matches off when they are playable.”

Where will they come from?

The council report said there is little likelihood of new playing fields being built through the planning process, as residential schemes in the city are almost all really dense on small sites.

And, the open spaces are mostly planned as habitats for biodiversity, play and recreation, and features like sustainable drainage swales, the report said.

Says the report: “If the quantity of playing fields is to increase this can only be achieved by gaining access to under-utilised recreational grounds in the City or acquisition of lands outside of the City.”

Residents in some neighbourhoods have been pointing to sites that they do think are suitable – with some success.

In the south inner-city, council officials recently said that they would press ahead with a long-promised new municipal pitch on the edge of a big development at St Teresa’s Gardens.

Also, after councillors refused to back down and rezoned the Marrowbone Lane depot site as green space, council officials have said they are working on plans for a pitch there too.

Meanwhile, in Rathmines, local residents have been pointing to how much of the green spaces in the wider neighbourhood are private, and calling for greater access – including to Kenilworth Square, which a school has plans to renovate into two full-sized pitches.

In Ballymun, the Ballymun Kickhams GAA club has been trying but so far failed to strike a deal with the council to develop a facility on land off Main Street.

At the meeting, councillors welcomed the confirmation that the council will develop an all-weather pitch in Coolock, on the site of a former pitch near the Glin Sports Centre.

“It’s great to see action finally,” said Fianna Fáil Councillor Daryl Barron, who chairs the North Central Area Committee.

The council should support sports coaches, who are volunteers giving up their time to provide opportunities to young people in their communities, said Lyons, the independent councillor.

“I think today is a good day,” said Lyons. “The problem we face into, around the allocation of the slots, is a good problem to face.”

He asked about the timeline. The report says the council will apply for planning permission this year and build the pitch in 2025.

But, O’Carroll said he can’t be sure. The council will carry out a capital appraisal, then it will apply for planning permission and then tender for a builder, he said.