GAA Club plans for floodlights refused due to ‘sensitive ecological corridor’

St Anne’s GAA Club have been refused planning permission for new floodlights at their pitch in Bohernabreena.

The council’s planning department refused permission due to “significant adverse impacts on this sensitive ecological corridor” from the floodlights.

In the planning application, the club sought permission for six 18metre columns as part of a new LED floodlighting system.

In their application they noted that the club has an existing playing field equipped with six floodlighting columns.

“However, under a recently approved planning application has been indicated that this “training” field has been relocated as part of an agreed land swap… to facilitate the development of new residential housing on the adjoining site,” they said.

Permission was granted for that proposed development, consisting of 523 residential units, in April 2025.

The council’s planning department made a number of requests for further information from St Anne’s during the application process, including a “comprehensive” bat survey, spill light and glare assessments on any potential impact the floodlights would have on existing housing and Bohernabreena Cottages and on the proposed housing development, and visual impact analysis/photomontages of the floodlights against views of the Dublin Mountains.

In their decision, South Dublin County Council’s planning department said that the proposed development failed to prove it would comply with provisions in the South Dublin County Development Plan 2022-2028, such as NCBH (Natural, Cultural and Built Heritage) 8 Objective 5 which “seeks to seeks to protect the Upper Dodder Valley (from Old Bawn Bridge to Fort Bridge) as an ecological network free from intrusive lighting”.

“The Planning Authority is not satisfied that the proposed development would avoid significant adverse impacts on this sensitive ecological corridor,” they said, concluding that it would also “set an undesirable precedent for similar proposals”.