Progress on ‘Kingston’ recreation and sports facility

An application for planning permission to proceed with long-planned sports and recreation facilities at the ‘Kingston lands’ in Knocknacarra will be made in the first half of 2020.

A spokesperson for Galway City Council confirmed that an engineer has been appointed with the specific responsibility of progressing the Kingston project and a number of other significant amenity projects in the city.

“We have an engineer in place working on these projects. We are also awaiting the appointment of a further engineer who will be dealing with the wider issue of Sports Capital Grants,” he said.

Councillors approved outline plans for the lands – an unoccupied green space adjacent to St John the Apostle National School and for an overhaul of the existing sports facility on Millars Lane – in June of last year.

Included was provision for a children’s playground; changing rooms/community centre; outdoor gym equipment; a pedestrian walkway; a two-way cycle path; and 75 parking spaces.

A hockey pitch will be developed at Millars lane as part of the plan.

A pitch that can be used for both GAA and rugby, and a multi-use games area were also included in what have been described as the early stages of what will finally come before the Council as a completed proposal.

The Council spokesperson said the recently-appointed engineer would be “getting into the nitty gritty” before a Part 8 was completed.

Local councillor Donal Lyons (Ind) said that it was his hope the plans would come before the Council in the first quarter of next year, so that the applicable Sports Capital Grants could be sought without delay.

“There are two parts of the Kingston lands development – on of the pitches on Millars Lane. In the last City Development Plan, the objective was included that if the City Council developed pitches, they also have to develop changing room facilities.

“All that exists at the moment in Millars Lane are temporary changing room facilities,” said Cllr Lyons.

Cllr Lyons said the new appointment of an engineer to deal with the Kingston project – and the development of the ‘Swamp’ at Southpark – was welcome, and so too was the forthcoming appointment of someone to deal with Sports Capital Grants.

“We have got some money from the Sports Capital Fund for the all-weather pitch at Cappagh Park. The next part is floodlighting. There are also plans for Melody Park in Renmore – there are a number of different projects already in train,” he said.

When the Part 8 process commences, members of the public will have an opportunity to make submissions and a plan will be finalised, explained the Knocknacarra-based councillor.

“The outline plan has been debated long and hard and when it goes forward for Part 8, the public will be able to make submissions before it comes back for adoption.

“The next stage then would be to find funding,” he said.

Throughout the initial process, there had been a number of concerns raised by residents in estates adjacent to the proposed park – particularly from White Oaks where a proposed access route between Millars Lane and Kingston lands requires a previously gated access route to the estate to remain open.

The opening of this area has given rise to security concerns and resulted in alleged incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Speaking to the Galway City Tribune, a resident of another estate, Gort Siar, said while they had no objection to the plan in principle, the initial plan to create green space for Knocknacarra and for the children in the national school had been lost, and the facility was now more about accommodating sports clubs than it was about benefitting local residents.

“We’re definitely not happy with the plans as they are and we’ve had a number of interactions with councillors over the past two years,” he said.

According to this resident, initial plans satisfied the needs of the school, where pupils were currently forced to play on tarmac due to the lack of green space.

“This has moved so far away from a community space designed and proposed originally, and now it has moved to become a complex or entity that smells of a commercial operation.

“If you’re going to put a pitch in, I don’t have a problem, as long as it can be used for many disciplines and is not just being designed to suit one sports club,” he said.

The Gort Siar resident said it was his intention to make a submission to City Council on the plans, once the Part 8 process commenced.

It has been over 20 years since the creation of a public amenity facility on this green space at Kingston was first mooted.