3G all-weather pitch proving divisive among local residents

Over four hundred residents and local groups have weighed in on a public consultation for a synthetic sports pitch in Greenhills Park.

The development is proving to be incredibly divisive among the area’s residents and park users, with local councillors and even TDs now weighing in.

The ongoing Part 8 consultation is for the councils plans to construct a synthetic grass 3G all-weather sports pitch, with perimeter fencing, six floodlighting columns and a pavilion with team changing rooms and storage area in the park in Greenhills Park.

Tallaght TD Paul Murphy and Tallaght Cllr Jess Spear (PBP-S) have entered an objection through the council’s public consultation portal, expressing environmental concerns over the installation of a synthetic pitch.

The submissions from the pair stated that South Dublin County Council should be “moving away from installing more synthetic pitches” and citing an EU-wide restriction on the use of synthetic polymer microparticles as infill in synthetic pitches, “to reduce the flow of harmful microplastics into the environment”.

The pair also said that Greenhills Park is a “a small, local park that residents rely on for daily walks, exercise, and informal outdoor play” and that “erecting fences around a large section” reduces the space usable by all residents.

“We understand that local sports clubs are frustrated by the lack of pitch space and would like to have all-weather pitches so that training and matches aren’t cancelled due to weather.

“However, after speaking with many residents who live adjacent to the park and after visiting the site ourselves, this doesn’t seem to be the right site for a synthetic pitch,” they said, urging the council to consider nearby Tymon Park as an alternative location if a synthetic pitch was “necessary”.

Chairman of local club Greenhills AFC, Ger O’Looney, has stated that the new pitch would be a “gamechanger” not just for the 200+ members of his club, but for sports groups across the area that currently use the grass pitch in summertime.

He said not only are Greenhills AFC forced to spend up to €20,000 each winter renting training space on pitches as far away as Bluebell, but he must also clean up the mess left behind by dogwalkers on the grass pitch before training and matches.

He also noted that the division in the community has taken a “nasty” turn, as he has had to block users from the clubs social media pages over comments related to the development.

Ger criticised the submission from Deputy Murphy and Cllr Spear as being one-sided, calling it “disappointing”.

“[Deputy Murphy] certainly didn’t reach out to us and didn’t make contact, I know he’s a representative of Tallaght, not Greenhills or Walkinstown, but he should do a little bit more than what he’s done,” he said.

“That’s the disappointing part. Why didn’t they reach out to the schools? Why didn’t they reach out to the clubs?”

Speaking to The Echo, Cllr Jess Spear defended the submissions from herself and Deputy Murphy, saying it was the resident groups opposed to the development that had reached out to them.

“The residents reached out over the last month, very upset and worried because they only found out about this proposal in the last month or so,” she said.

She said she and her party colleagues Kay Keane and Darragh Adelaide, as well as Deputy Murphy, had discussed the issue “with all sides”.

“My understanding is that the football clubs have known about the proposal and have been working with the council on the proposal for quite some time.”

She added that while she was not a councillor for the area, she does “have a say as a councillor when it comes to a vote on this”.

“Nobody asked me for a meeting, they have emailed me their view in the meantime but it’s not as if they reached out.”

Cllr Spear also stated that the style of public consultation being used by the council for the Greenhills pitch can lend itself towards division in the community.

“When a proposal is pulled together, I do feel that it’s too late in the game to then go to the community living right adjacent to it and say, Hey, by the way, this is the proposal,” she said.

“They immediately feel up against the wall, they have a timeline that’s very short to respond to it and there isn’t engagement where both sides actually can hear each other.”

The public can lodge submissions for or against the proposed Part 8 development on the council website consult.sdublincoco.ie until 5pm on October 30.

Funded by The Local Democracy Reporting Scheme