Richhill AFC’s exciting goal to build to deliver a ‘community hub’ for the County Armagh village have scored approval from ABC Council.
The development – which also includes a covered spectator stand and additional parking – is located adjacent to Richhill Recreation Centre at New Line.
As such, the proposals – which represent a significant investment in community and sporting facilities in the village – came before council’s planning committee as it has an interest in the land.
Without fuss or fanfare, the application was given the go-ahead when councillors received a presentation, with a recommendation to approve, by senior planning officer Trudy Chapman.
Her report to committee advised: “The site forms part of a larger established sports and recreation complex which comprises a synthetic playing pitch, ancillary training grass pitch and recreational areas, spectator facilities, meeting room/clubhouse accommodation, parking areas and associated hardstanding.
“The ground associated with the football club is enclosed by a combination of fencing and established vegetation. To the north of the site lies a communal parking area, enclosed hard surface play area, bowling green and children’s playground.
“The site is accessed from the public road network and benefits from existing parking and circulation areas associated with both the football club and the adjacent recreation centre. Existing floodlighting for the main pitch and associated infrastructure are present within the complex, reflecting the site’s long-established use for organised sporting and recreational activities.”
Richhill AFC hopes to replace the existing changing facilities, located to the east of the main pitch, with a community hub, including new changing facilities.
The plan then is to retain the existing meeting room/clubhouse, which is located to the north of the main pitch, as storage for equipment.
It is intended to remove the existing modular building currently used for changing facilities and replace this with the new community hub.
When built, it will provide home and away changing facilities, a First Aid room, referee changing room, toilet facilities and kitchen – as well as a dedicated ‘community meeting space’.
There would be a new spectator stand erected too, providing 109 seats, five of them intended for wheelchair users.
“The stand would be an entirely new facility for the club,” according to the senior planning officer’s report to committee. “They do not, however, expect this to increase visitor numbers; it is intended to improve the existing facilities, allowing supporters and visitors to take advantage of the covered seating and keep people to one area of the pitch, away from the site boundaries and dwellings beyond.”
It is also planned to reduce the size of the existing grass training pitch to a seven-a-side pitch, which will allow an enlarged parking space to be provided between it and the recreation centre.
Additional parking was previously approved and implemented, which provided nine car parking spaces and two enlarged spaces. It is intended that the changing rooms that sit within this parking area will now be removed and parking layout “amended slightly” to allow for access to “an enlarged parking space to be located between the reduced training pitch and the recreation centre”.
This area will have 12 spaces, rather than the current 11, and the new enlarged area will accommodate one coach or six cars, 26 car spaces and three enlarged spaces. There would also be 10 cycle parking spaces.
A new 2.4 metre high fence will run along the north eastern side of the football pitch – between the main pitch and seven-a-side pitch – to allow the club to “control access”.
Ms Chapman, speaking at October’s planning committee, told those present: “The development would reduce the existing training pitch and result in the loss of approximately 1,320 sq metres of open space. Officers consider this a minor loss, as outweighed by the substantial community benefits and improvement of the established sporting facilities.
“Design materials are considered appropriate for this recreational complex, and there are limited public views into the site, which means there will be no unacceptable impact on the character or visual amenity of the area.
“Overall, parking provision within the wider site will increase from 82 spaces to 119, and this compares with an estimated peak demand of the overall site of 105 spaces.”
The planning officer reported DfI Roads had “no objections”, but this was “subject to a condition limiting the spectator attendance to 200 people”.
There had been no ‘third party representations’ received and consultation raised no objections, subject to conditions.
Before delivering a slide presentation showing the development site – and recommending approval – Ms Chapman informed all: “Officers are satisfied that the proposal would not cause unacceptable harm to road safety, residential amenity, natural or built heritage, drainage or the surrounding area.”
Ulster Unionist Alderman Gordon Kennedy welcomed the development, saying it was part of an ongoing process of redevelopment by Richhill AFC and “it’s good to see this going through”.
That said, he remarked: “It probably could have done with a few more parking spaces, but the space is limited in there, so we just have to go with what we have.”
Responding, Ms Chapman said parking had been assessed “in terms of the worst case scenario”.
She added: “The club has been working with the recreation centre and we’ve been told that they won’t be running anything that’s a high generator of traffic on a Saturday afternoon if the first team are playing. So they’ve worked that out in terms of the worst case scenario, which would be something like a child’s party going on, the bowling club being there, some children using the play facilities, and they’re confident that there will be sufficient parking.
“In fact, there will be extra parking, if this is approved, and DfI are content with that, provided the spectator numbers are limited to 200, and bear in mind that the spectator stand is only going to accommodate 109.”
Alderman Kennedy then proposed – and Alliance Councillor Peter Lavery seconded – that planning approval be granted.
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