Cork County Board agrees to €300k demand for lighting upgrade around Páirc Uí Chaoimh

The county board had consistently offered to pay a €60,000 'contribution' to public lighting upgrades on routes to the revamped stadium but have now agreed to pay more than five times that amount

A protracted planning dispute between the county board and Cork City Council over the amount of a “special contribution” the GAA body should pay towards lighting upgrades around Pairc Ui Chaoimh has reached an agreement. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The Cork County Board says it will pay the almost €308,000 it's been told to — five times more than it had offered — towards the cost of public lighting upgrades around Páirc Uí Chaoimh GAA stadium.

It follows a binding determination by An Bórd Pleanála in relation to a protracted planning dispute between the county board and Cork City Council over the amount of a “special contribution” the GAA body should pay towards lighting upgrades following the multi-million refurbishment of the stadium in 2014.

A source close to the county board said while the figure in the ruling from the board surprised them, they will pay it.

“We were surprised at the amount. It’s a lot more than we expected but it’s also a lot less than what the city council had estimated,” he said.

"But we are happy to move on now, and to work with Cork City Council on the issue.”. 

The council welcomed the ruling. A spokesperson said: "We will proceed as with any planning condition attached by An Bórd Pleanála to a permission.”

It marks the end of a protracted dispute which has dragged on since the board granted planning for the stadium revamp in 2014.

It attached 30 conditions — one of which required the county board to pay ‘a special contribution’, to be agreed with the council, towards the cost of public lighting upgrades along key pedestrian routes to the stadium — Monahan Road, Centre Park Road, the Old Railway Line, and the Marina.

This condition also required that the lighting be installed before the revamped stadium opened. The work has yet to be done.

The council estimated the work could cost between €750,000 and €1.5m. It argued that the pedestrian capacity along these four routes was around 94,980, and that because the capacity of the stadium was 45,000, the county board should bear 48% of the cost of the lighting improvement works. It asked for just over €544,000.

But the county board said its calculations showed that just 12.5% of the pedestrian usage on almost 4.5kms of routes to the stadium could be attributed to the GAA, and that by applying a €106.75 per metre cost of lighting upgrades to 12.5% of that length of road gives you €60,000 — the figure it has consistently offered to pay.

The sides couldn't agree on the amount and so the council referred the matter to the board for a determination.

The documents show that poor public lighting around the stadium led to concerns for concert-goers attending the Bruce Springsteen gig in the old stadium in 2013, and those attending Ed Sheeran’s three-night concert series in the revamped stadium in 2018, when the concert promoter had to hire mobile light rigs for the approach roads.

The council said following an increase in night-time GAA fixtures at the new stadium, the Garda Traffic Corps also expressed concern over poor lighting in the area.

The county board said it felt they had an agreement in January 2015 for calculating the amount only for the council to “add-in an extra 2km of roadway” in May 2016 and it argued that the roads are “not specific or exceptional to Páirc Uí Chaoimh".

But planning inspector, Hugh Morrison, said the revamped stadium would increase night-time usage of the roads and he said the request that the county board pay 48% was reasonable.

In the meantime, the council has pedestrianised the Marina and is undertaking significant regeneration works along the old railway line.