GAA club challenges refusal of proposed Tipperary padel tennis facility
A decision to refuse planning permission for a proposed indoor padel tennis facility in Tipperary is being challenged before An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Padel Rock Ltd applied to Tipperary County Council for retention planning permission for the change of use of a warehouse building in Cashel Business Park on the Cahir Road in Cashel in order to develop a sports and recreation facility where padel courts could be developed.
Tipperary County Council refused planning permission for the proposed padel facility saying that the zoning of the land doesn’t support this type of use.
“Under the land use zoning matrix, sports and leisure facilities (commercial and community) are not permitted on this land use zone,” planners said.
Planners also found that the proposal would contravene a number of objectives in the Cashel and Environs Development Plan.
Appealing the decision, Cashel King Cormac’s GAA Club said that the facility would have numerous benefits for the town.
“The appellant considers that the proposed indoor padel facility would provide significant sporting, community, health, recreational and economic benefits for Cashel and the wider area,” an agent acting on behalf of the GAA club said.
The club says that Tipperary County Council should have used their right to apply discretion to contravene the Cashel town development plan, which was drafted 17 years ago.
“Reliance on a 17-year-old development plan when assessing a current planning application is difficult to justify,” they said.
“The 2009 development plan does not take account of changes to local development needs that have taken place since the plan was adopted.
“The proposed development constitutes a new enterprise that will generate employment and is therefore compliant with the zoning objective,” they added.
The council should look at the rules applied in the Tipperary County Development Plan, they said, which allows for sports and leisure use on lands zoned for employment use.
The facility would also encourage more people to engage in physical activity if it was given the go-ahead, the agent explained.
“The proposal would reuse vacant existing units, create employment, support sport and physical activity, generate local economic investment, and provide a much needed indoor sports facility for Cashel,” the agents’ letter concluded.
An Coimisiún Pleanála is due to make a decision on the appeal by November 23.