That the North Central Area Committee recognises the needs of sports clubs and organisations and will support the planning and installation of an additional Astro Turf in the Donaghmede LEA and seeks a feasibility study on potential locations in the locality.
Local clubs in the community can no longer get slots in astro-turfs and there is an urgent need for additional space.
Minutes:
That the North Central Area Committee recognises the needs of sports clubs and organisations and will support the planning and installation of an additional Astro Turf in the Donaghmede LEA and seeks a feasibility study on potential locations in the locality.
Local clubs in the community can no longer get slots in astro-turfs and there is an urgent need for additional space.
Reply
It is well understood that such facilities are required for winter weather-independent training during dark evenings. There are significant demands and calls for additional flood-lit all-weather facilities by community clubs of all codes all across the north central area. Given that the construction of all-weather pitches requires a significant capital investment, part 8 planning and in most circumstances environmental surveys with regard to protected species it would seem to be a more than reasonable solution to commission a detailed study to look at the needs and resources of the entire area in this regard. Such a study would look at a number of factors which will have to be considered and make costed, prioritised recommendations as how best to meet the needs of children engaging in sport in the north central area.
The geographical spread must be a factor to ensure that there is some level of equity of access to our citizenry. Currently the location of the existing full-sized facilities appears skewed with all 3 full-sized all-weather facilities located to the east of the Malahide Road. Also as such facilities are only required for the darker months of the year for a few hours in the evening on certain days of the week with Tues-Thurs 7-9pm thought to be the most desirable slots consideration has to be seriously given to whether a full-sized competition spec all-weather pitch is the most appropriate or economically advantageous way to meet the local need where smaller local facilities might be a better option. Such full-sized high spec facilities are ideal for elite senior teams but the priority for the council must be youth participation.
Through engagement with local clubs, schools and leagues the numbers of children engaged in active recreation in the area both male and female, number of teams of each code in formal competition and total local need for such facilities ideally could be fully assessed. Whether clubs have access to their own or others private all-weather facilities must also be a factor when prioritising such a public investment. Many clubs in the NCA do already have their own facilities or make use of those already in schools etc.
The ongoing management of such facilities is no small undertaking requiring the identification of suitable management entity; liability and insurances are onerous, the utility bills are significant, equitable apportioning and renting of slots to the community fraught with potential conflict and the monies involved substantial. It is currently estimated that in the order €30k must be put aside annually into a sinking fund to ensure the replacement of the carpet at the end of its safe useful life. Ideally larger all-weather facilities would be co-located with a community centre from which they could be professionally operated and managed as it is recognised that this management is a big ask for club officials who are essentially volunteers.
The consultants could look at the best locations for such flood-lit facilities to extract maximum utility from the investment from the public purse. Perhaps school grounds might be a better location than a local park in some instances to ensure greater daytime usage and where school carparks can support the facility at night. Also the proposed receiving environment will require consideration and thought as some parks and public lands may be too small or poorly proportioned to accommodate a larger facility without impacting on views across the park and creating alleys and dead spaces which might negatively impact on amenity and perceptions of safety of older and more vulnerable park visitors.
If terms of reference were drawn up in the coming weeks and put out to tender in early 2023 it is envisaged that the consultant would be in a position to report back with costed and prioritised recommendations by early Q4 which would allow same to be feed into budget estimates for 2024.
Contact: Fergus O’Carroll, Senior Executive Parks Superintendent
Tel: 222 6625
Email: parks@dublincity.ie
Order: Agreed.