Concerns have been raised over plans to convert a football pitch in a public park in Ballsbridge, Dublin into an all weather pitch, in a deal which will be funded entirely by a local private school.
St. Conleth’s College will cover the full cost of transforming the pitch at Herbert Park. Conleth’s is a fee-paying school located close to the park, and has been using the football pitches there for over 30 years.
But Conleth’s director Ann Sheppard says the need to convert the pitch to astro-turf arose because of the importance of sport in attracting students to the school. “We’re losing people to sport,” she says, “one, because of the distance we have to travel, and two, because of the traffic and everything else, people are dropping out. Sport is very important to keep people involved.”
There are 320 students split between Conleth’s Senior and Junior School, with the pupils currently using the football pitch in school hours during term time. And Sheppard is adamant that the school will not seek to use the pitch outside the current terms. “We would be using it during the daytime where it’s not used now at all,” she says, adding, “we’re certainly not in the business of wanting anyone excluded.”
Dublin City Council Parks Superintendent Pat Curran says the transformation is necessary due to the amount of people wanting to use the pitches. “Our big problem at the moment is that we’ve got a lot of teams looking to play on them,” he says, “so obviously wear is a big factor. If you have to manage wear on pitches you’re going to have to have a number of facilities such as astro-turf, which can take heavy training.”
Amongst the regular users of the pitches currently are artist Jim Fitzpatrick, who organises a game there every Saturday afternoon. Famous faces like fashion designer John Rocha and show business reporter Jason O’Callaghan have played in Fitzpatrick’s game.
Fitzpatrick suggests that the middle of the park’s three pitches would be a better location for the astro-turf than the bottom pitch, as is currently proposed. He says that the middle pitch is bordered by trees and a clubhouse, meaning that replacing the grass here would have less visual impact.
“From an aesthetic point of view I would be totally opposed to the park getting butchered like that,” says Fitzpatrick of the current plans. “Everybody needs to talk about this a bit more. They need to really think long and hard with something that’ll simply concrete the pitch over.”
The Parks Department allocates playing permits every 11 months, and Pat Curran is keen to allay the fears of those who currently use the pitches and are worried that they won’t be able to after the redevelopment. “We don’t see this having a major affect on existing teams. We reckon we can accommodate the uses that are there at the moment.”
Notices detailing the proposal have been put up in the area in recent weeks, and public submissions and objections are being received by the council. The City Council will then decide whether to approve the project or not at its next monthly meeting in September.
Labour Councillor Dermot Lacey agrees that the character of the park will be affected by the instalment of astro-turf. “I think it’ll have a change, of course it will,” he says, “but I don’t see it as having any negative change - the park is constantly changing and evolving.” As part of other improvements to the park, the council will foot the bill of improving the pavilion running through the green areas.
One of the main concerns of those opposed to the development is that the astro-turf pitch would have fences put around it to restrict access. Pat Curran of the Parks Department says the current plan is for “a low fence, something of the order of three and a half feet”, which he says would be intended to keep dogs off the pitch. But Curran adds, “in any proposal we’d be talking about low visual impact.” Ann Sheppard says Conleth’s is prepared to go along with whatever the Council recommend, while Cllr. Dermot Lacey says he will not approve of any fencing or gates which permanently block access.
Astro-turf pitches across the city continue to be a lucrative business, and there seems little doubt that money could be made by charging for access to the new facilities in Herbert Park. At the moment it seems unclear as to whether such fees would be levied. Pat Curran insists the plan is not a “money making consideration” while Ann Sheppard says it would not be for the school to decide. Dermot Lacey, however, made clear that he would oppose “any part of the park being privatised” and said the charges for using the pitches should remain as they are.
He admits that having the transformation funded by a private body is not the “ideal solution” to the lack of playing areas. “But given that local government funds have been so hatcheted by this government, this is the best way to achieve significant improvement to Herbert Park that will benefit everybody.”