Páirc Uí Chaoimh board submits revised plans for stadium redevelopment
The revised plans retain the original proposals for a new museum, visitor centre and cafe in a revamped South Stand and a children’s playground at the Atlantic Pond. File picture: INPHO/James Crombie
The board of Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork has submitted revised plans for a controversial redevelopment of the stadium which sought to provide two new car parks on publicly-owned land.
Details of the revised plans, which now exclude the original proposal for a car park containing 124 spaces at the Blackrock end of the grounds, are contained in an appeal lodged by Páirc Uí Chaoimh CTR against the recent decision by Cork City Council to refuse it planning permission for the redevelopment.
However, the stadium board has asked An Bord Pleanála to consider both the original plans as well as the revised version under the appeal process.
The revised plans retain the original proposals for a new museum, visitor centre and cafe in a revamped South Stand and a children’s playground at the Atlantic Pond.
A proposed bicycle parking station at Park Avenue will remain as a car park but will be used to provide 20 disabled parking spaces on match days, while a controlled crossing point at the Blackrock end of the stadium has also been dropped.
The stadium board has also asked An Bord Pleanála to hold an oral inquiry into its application because of the “complexity” of its proposals and “to allow all relevant issues to be discussed and examined.”
It has asked the planning appeals board to consider both the refused plans as well as the revised plans in its decision.
More than 120 submissions were made to the council about the project which is strongly opposed by locals including the Ballintemple Area Residents' Association.
In a separate letter to An Bord Pleanála, the director of the stadium board, property developer Michael O’Flynn, said the council’s decision was not anticipated given the extensive pre-planning consultations it held with the council since November 2019.
He said the stadium board had been left in no doubt that the current restricted access and parking for the stadium was "not fit for purpose".
He claimed the council as both a planning authority and developer of Marina Park was "in a difficult and potentially conflicted position".
Mr O’Flynn also said the lack of reference by the council to the shortage of disability parking in its ruling was “perplexing”.
The council rejected the stadium redevelopment plans on several grounds, including the fact that the use of public open space for car parks would represent a material contravention of the Cork City Development Plan 2015-2021.
It said the proposals would also endanger public safety by creating a traffic hazard because it would generate serious conflict between pedestrians and motorists on the pathway between the main stadium and the all-weather pitch and would also severely limit the council’s ability to deliver a large iconic public park as envisaged in the Marina Park masterplan.
However, the board said serious safety issues and infrastructure deficits remain, which have the potential to impede the future development of Páirc Uí Chaoimh notwithstanding the council’s decision.
“The issue of insufficient disabled parking in proximity to the stadium, for example, which was highlighted prominently in the application, remains a critical deficit,” it noted.
In its appeal, the stadium board claimed there was the prospect that it could spend €100m on the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh but the council would not deliver on its commitment to provide parking to the south of the stadium based on tender documents for the second phase of the Marina Park masterplan.
It pointed out to An Bord Pleanála that its application was motivated in part by the apparent failure of the council to deliver 200 promised parking spaces on the southern side of the stadium at Monahan Road.
It also pointed out that a new traffic and transport assessment had concluded that the impact of a large-scale, one-day event on the local road network would not have any material effect on the wider road network which addressed a concern raised by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
The company said the proposed car parks and access arrangements represent an improvement on the existing situation which allows motorists to mix with pedestrians and cyclists around the stadium and along The Marina.
It also clarified that the inclusion of access control bollards and gates at the eastern car park in the original plans were only for use at large-scale events to provide for emergency access and would not be used during daytime on an everyday basis.
The stadium board said the fact that it and not the council were proposing to develop public car parking areas was not material to the merit and assessment of the plans.
It claimed the council’s view that the car parks represent a material contravention was contradictory and inconsistent given other car parks have been provided in the area on land zoned for public open space.
It said the Marina Park Masterplan provides for a total of 206 parking spaces to the south of the stadium that are to be dedicated to the GAA on match days but the council had only provided 37 spaces to date.
The stadium board argues its proposal “merely reorganises” plans for car parking around the stadium.
An Bord Pleanála was also asked to acknowledge that the proposed revamp of the stadium was of strategic and national importance as Páirc Uí Chaoimh is recognised as a key catalyst for driving the development of the Cork Docklands.
A ruling on the appeal is expected by the end of February 2022.
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