Clonakilty set for facelift as GAA club sells land for €9m

A GAA club has sold its grounds for €9 million in a move that will trigger the biggest ever town centre development expansion in Clonakilty.

The west Cork club is to relocate its playing fields to a new green field site on the outskirts of the town.

Clonakilty GAA Club is not expected to vacate the existing complex until 2007.

A planning application for a new clubhouse, four playing fields and an all-weather pitch at Ahamilla, on the Dunmanway Road, is currently being processed by Cork County Council.

Several bids were received for the 8.6-acre complex that occupies a strategic waterfront site on the eastern approach to the town. The club’s executive committee, at a meeting this week, approved the tender from Ballincollig-based company Hillback Development.

The town council, last week, also endorsed a draft action plan for the proposed development of the GAA lands and several parcels of public-owned land adjacent to the mouth of the Feagle river in the inner harbour.

Under an agreement, 2.2 acres of the GAA site will be retained as a green area. The site will be a predominantly residential development with an element of commercial activity.

The overall plan, which will reshape the town centre and utilise the inner harbour amenities, envisages pedestrian walks and an underground car park adjacent to Clonakilty Bay.

GAA club chairman Noel O’Callaghan said the decision to accept the tender was unanimous. Bounded by the river and inner harbour, he said expansion was not possible.

“Players are currently confined to one pitch and a small training field and the club was left with no option but to seek an alternative location to provide state-of-the art playing and training facilities,” he said.

Consultants Brady Shipman Martin, who prepared a draft action, had emphasised the importance of extending, in the long term, the town centre relief road.

They also noted: “The development of the GAA lands provides the opportunity to develop a major area of open space for the town and take advantage of the inner harbour for its marine and recreational potential.”