The proposed development of an All Weather Racecourse at Tipperary Racecourse has run into delays at best and a possible redesign of the €18M project.
An appeal against the grant of Planning permission by Tipperary county council was lodged with An Bord Pleanála on September 14th.
The project involved the creation of an all weather race track of 2.2km in length – a new ambulance/TV crew circulation path, upgrades to the stable block with a new underpass constructed to the racetrack, a relocation of the parade ring and extensive LED lighting installed as part of the project.
The planning application received 3 submissions for consideration by Tipperary County Council Planning office.
These were from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Irish Rail and a local resident. The latter has now appealed the grant of permission on a number of grounds.
All parties now have one month, from September 14th to make submissions – An Bord Pleanála would hope to make a decision within an 18 week time frame however it could take longer.
This 18 week period begins on September 14th.
An inspector from An Bord Pleanála (ABP) may visit the site and consider all documentation and then make their recommendation to ABP. ABP itself, is currently the subject of a major review following concerns about the integrity of it’s decision making.
A copy of the appeal is available for inspection or purchase in the Planning Section, Civic Offices, Nenagh during office hours or online at http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/22456/0 .
The An Bord Pleanála reference is ABP-314621-22.
The appeal raises several issues – some were raised in the resident’s initial submission on the application in respect of matters such as – information, lack of drawings, boundary distance from development works, lighting, no wastewater service confirmed by Irish Water at time of application, TV tower height/ location and traffic impacts from increased number of meetings, less access points to venue, N24 traffic and a planned rail freight terminal at Limerick Junction.
In their appeal to An Bord Pleanála the residents are sharply critical of the handling of the application by Tipperary County Council – and claim that insufficient information was supplied with the application to make a decision and that the council failed to seek further information from the developer in response to submissions made on the application.
The residents are also concerned that the Planning Authority is not acting to protect their best interests as the Authority stated that implications of siting a new substation for the project close to the residents percolation area as not a matter for the planning authority.
In addition the residents reject a proposal that an agreement be made prior to any construction work beginning as the residents fear this would impact on their right to make a complaint when such works are in progress.
The Tipperary Racecourse all weather track is intended to be the second all weather track constructed in Ireland with the first in operation in Dundalk since 2007.
