Cork college insists no trees were felled for pitch developed without planning permission

Griffith College says six trees were felled elsewhere on its site in 2018 following antisocial behaviour, including 'managed growth of cannabis' in the scrub, but that those trees were not subject to preservation orders

The pitch at Griffith College's Cork city campus which is now the focus of a planning appeal.

Independent third-level institution Griffith College has insisted no trees were felled to make way for an all-weather pitch developed without planning permission on its Cork city campus.

It says six trees were felled elsewhere on its site in 2018 in response to antisocial behaviour, including the discovery of “managed growth of cannabis” in the scrub, but that none of those trees were the subject of a tree preservation order.

It sets out its argument in a detailed appeal to An Bord Pleanála against Cork City Council’s decision last February to refuse planning retention for the pitch behind the college’s historic main building on Wellington Rd.

The appeal includes aerial photographs which the college says prove there were no trees on the pitch site before it was built. It also includes several letters of support for the retention of the pitch, including from a Department of Education unit, from a secondary school being accommodated at Griffith College, and from several groups which use the college for summer English-language courses.

Part of its landmark site is a designated landscape preservation zone (LPZ) for tree canopy and ecology, which means there is a presumption against development in the area.

Griffith College's building on Cork's Wellington Rd.

The main college building, the former St Patrick's Hospital and Convent, is a protected structure. The pitch is close to another protected structure, a stone-built ventilation shaft associated with the Kent Station railway tunnel.

The college declined to comment last month when the Irish Examiner reported how the city council had refused an application from Patluke Ltd, trading as Griffith College, for planning retention for the pitch to the rear of the main college building.

A key biodiversity report which informed the decision said the pitch, and the previous habitat of urban forest, which was cleared from part of the campus in 2018, “could have existed beside one another” and provided habitats for the students to explore and for recreational use.

In making their decision, planners said the pitch is contrary to the land-use zoning objective of the site; the proposed retention of the pitch by way of its impact on biodiversity and ecology contravenes key objectives in the city development plan; and the placement of the pitch and perimeter fencing relative to nearby protected structures within the Wellington Road/St Luke's Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) has a negative impact on the setting of the protected structure and is considered to materially affect the character of both the protected structure and the ACA.

'No felling of trees'

However, the appeal, prepared by planning consultants HW Planning, insists there was no felling of trees to accommodate the pitch, and that a review of internal reports on the planning shows that two of the reasons for refusal are “predicated on the incorrect opinion” that trees were felled for it.

The pitch is in an area where polytunnels previously existed, and it has been demonstrated that no tree existed here prior to this at the time of acquisition of the campus lands by Griffith College. 

"There is no basis to the primary position which underpinned the council's refusal,” the appeal says.

The appeal explains that Griffith College moved to the campus in 2014, but that a 2012 sales brochure, produced by Savills for the sale of the former St Patrick’s hospice, includes an aerial photograph which confirms the tree coverage on the site.

It explains that the felling of six trees by the college in 2018 in a separate area behind the main building was in response to antisocial behaviour in the area, which led to numerous complaints being received from neighbours.

“Evidence of alcohol consumption, illicit drug taking, starting of bonfires, and fly-tipping became common place,” the appeal says.

Very worryingly, it was discovered that the space was also being used for the managed growth of cannabis, with intervention by An Garda Síochána required.

“There were very obvious health and safety issues for students on the campus, as well as adjacent local residents, and a decision was taken to clear the field of scrub as a necessary intervention.

“It should be noted that this was welcomed by many in the local community.” 

The retention will not impact on biodiversity and an independently commissioned report on architectural heritage has confirmed that there will be no impact on buildings of historical value on the wider lands, the report says.

Among the letters of support is one from Colm O’Connor, the principal of the Cork Educate Together Secondary School, which has been in temporary accommodation for seven and a half years, the last five of which have been in Griffith College.

Mr O’Connor said since his school moved to Griffith College, it had no access to sports facilities on site and was bussing students at great cost to the Glen Resource Centre for PE.

Colm O'Connor, principal of Cork Educate Together Secondary School, said since his school moved to Griffith College it had no access to sports facilities on site.

He described access to the new pitch as very beneficial to their students and said: “Should this resource be removed, it will have detrimental impact on the students’ development and further limit the school’s ability to enhance the students' experience.” 

Anne Flynn, assistant principal officer in the Department of Education’s start-up schools interim accommodation unit, also supported the retention of the pitch, and said while Griffith College will facilitate the Educate Together Secondary School until its permanent school building is delivered, that project is itself the subject of an appeal to An Bord Pleanála.

Sarote Ní Ailpín, deputy principal of Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG, which has partnered with Griffith College since 2019 to create a business scholarship for an AG student, said the all-weather pitch facilitated sports and activities throughout the year, irrespective of weather conditions.

Mariel Twomey, chairperson of the Cork branch of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, said it would be “a tragedy” if the pitch was removed and warned that its removal would have “huge negative consequences” not only for Griffith College students, but for the local community.

Griffith College, established in 1974, acquired the former Marymount Hospice’s five-acre campus on Wellington Rd in 2013 and relocated there in 2014.

A decision on the appeal is due in July.