*Caherlohan.
CLARE County Council has granted planning permission to €5m plans by Clare GAA to expand and redevelop the county’s GAA Centre of Excellence.
The planners have given the ambitious plans to unearth the next Tony Kelly or Shane O’Donnell the green light on condition that a range of measures are put in place to safeguard the Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
The project last November benefited from €3.2m in State funding
from the Government’s Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund to develop the Centre of Excellence at Caherloghan near Tulla.
The scheme for the county’s elite hurlers and footballers – includes the construction of a 1-2 storey extension to the existing Clare GAA Centre of Excellence building accommodating additional player welfare facilities including new dressing rooms, a gymnasium, dining and administrative areas.
It also includes two new full-length playing pitches, the construction of a new all-weather synthetic playing pitch, the construction of a new hurling ‘ball-wall’ and the construction of a new covered spectator stand serving Pitch 3.
The Council has attached the bat protection conditions as the Centre of Excellence expansion proposal lies close to Newgrove House which is a designated Special Area of Conservation (SAC) due to the presence of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
According to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Newgrove House SAC “is considered to be of international importance” due to the presence of the tiny bat.
The Lesser Horseshoe Bat is one of the world’s smallest bats, weighing only 5 to 9 grams with a wingspan of 194-254mm and a body length of 35 to 45 mm and is afforded legal protection through the EU Habitats Directive.
The measures include specialist outdoor lighting at the expanded centre of excellence and a 10pm curfew on lighting each day.
Bat boxes are to be erected at the edge of the site while additional tree planting to the east of Pitch 2 is expected to provide some additional foraging for bats.
A bat activity survey carried out on behalf of Clare GAA found that four species of bat including the Lesser Horseshoe Bat were detected on the eastern edge of the site.
An ecological assessment commissioned by Clare GAA and lodged with the planning application stated that the mitigation measures will ensure that no adverse impacts will occur which could affect the integrity of the Newgrove House SAC and no adverse impacts are predicted against the conservation objectives of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat.
However, it remains to be seen if the mitigation measures go far enough for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage which does have the option of appealing the grant of permission to An Bord Pleanála.
In a submission to the Council at the end of last month the Department told the Council that there can be no doubts or lacunae regarding what is required for mitigation measures proposed.
No third-party objections are made against the proposed scheme.
