Playground in Wexford village delayed again as council discover ‘certain services are not where we expected them to be’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

The ten-year wait for a new playground in Kilmuckridge, Co Wexford appears no closer to a conclusion after council officials confirmed there is now an issue with the location of the services at the site. At the monthly meeting of the Gorey Kilmuckridge Municipal District (GKMD) Councillor Mary Farrell once more asked for an update on a project which has become a source of increasing frustration for her.

“I’m talking to our planning department about the site and its infrastructure,” replied district manager Anita McLoughlin.

“So it’s going back into the planning process?” asked Cllr Farrell.

“No, I’m just asking planning to confirm some details before we go out and get someone to design the final plan,” came the response.

Planning permission for a playground, seating, a pocket park, lighting, and landscaping has already been approved but, when that application was submitted by Wexford County Council (WCC) last year, there were issues raised regarding the location of manholes of the site. As part of that application, an inspection was carried out at the site by biodiversity officer Claire Godwin.

In her report, Ms Godwin noted that the ground at the site was “extremely waterlogged” and that the manhole chambers are close to the root zone of a chestnut tree which was exhibiting signs of die back.

“It is possible the site drainage has changed and some root disturbances may have occurred during construction impacting on the roots,” she said. “The trees contribute hugely to the visual character of the area so they should be retained with a regular inspection by a qualified arborist to monitor for deadwood in the crown or decline in overall health.”

Ms Godwin recommended that any playground design should be kept back from the Root Protection Area and, during construction, a secure fence should be erected to ensure no damage is caused to the root zone.

While Ms McLoughlin did not intimate the nature of the current issues at the site, her colleague, director of services Liz Hore, offered some additional details.

“We’re reviewing some of the technical plans and the site services,” she said.

“Should this not have been discussed before we applied for planning?” asked Cllr Farrell.

“Since the playground was designed we have discovered that certain services are not where we expected them to be,” replied Ms Hore. “This is out of WCC’s control. We approved planning but discovered there was an issue with the services.”