Friends' Work

// Tralee racecourse objection supports planners

FIE has lodged an objection which supports the professional planning staff about the planning application to replace Tralee’s Ballybeggan Racecourse with a mixed commercial, industrial, and residential development  At a pre-planning meeting the planning staff tried to explain to the developers that the site is zoned for amenity and a grant of permission would breach the County’s Development Plan. The planners told the developer that ‘in its present form the proposal contravenes the zoning of the land’ and yet the developers continued irregardless. Why? The application states that as the land is not zoned for planning they are not required to provide social and affordable housing under the Planning Act - saving them €20m - €25m.

The racecourse serves dual purposes. ‘It is a valuable amenity not only for horse lovers – and the support of rural community life - but as a unique 100 acre limestone grassland enclosed by a historically important wall it is providing habitat for a range of biodiversity, including birds such as the protected and increasingly rare skylark.  

See our Press Release.

TRALEE RACECOURSE OBJECTION ‘SUPPORTS PLANNERS'

The environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment has lodged an objection to the development of Tralee's Ballybeggan Racecourse that they claim ‘supports the planners'.

A spokesman for the group said they were ‘disturbed' to discover that the file shows clearly that at a pre-planning meeting the planners told the developer that the ‘in its present form the proposal contravenes the zoning of the land' and yet the developers continued ‘irregardless.'

The Tralee Racecourse is zoned for amenity and a grant of permission for a mixed commercial, industrial, and residential development would breach the County's Development Plan. The planners told the developer that ‘in its present form the proposal contravenes the zoning of the land’ and yet the developers continued irregardless. Why? The application states that as the land is not zoned for planning they are not required to provide social and affordable housing under the Planning Act - saving them €20m - €25m.

‘A grant of permission under these conditions can only further weaken the planning system and undermine the moral of the professional planning staff, who have been ignored in the desire to develop one of the countiy's most important amenities.

‘It is no surprise that it is increasingly difficult to attract planning staff to Kerry County Council if pre-planning advice is treated with this contempt.'

The group claims the racecourse serves dual purposes. ‘Tralee Racecourse is a valuable amenity not only for horse lovers. It is a unique 100 acre limestone grassland enclosed by a historically important wall and providing habitat for a range of biodiversity, including birds such as the protected and increasingly rare skylark.

A spokesman also explained that any change in the Plan made at this stage to facilitate a project of this scale ‘must be subject to a wider Strategic Environmental Assessment in which the impact on the overall amenities of the areas must be considered.'