{"id":375332,"date":"2026-03-31T21:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/375332\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T21:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:42:09","slug":"plans-for-10-padel-courts-denied-due-to-metrolink-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/375332\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans for 10 padel courts denied due to MetroLink project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Fingal County Council has refused planning permission to Hammerson for the sports facilities as they would be sited on lands required to facilitate the delivery of the MetroLink project, which has been approved by An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">In its refusal, the council explained that the proposed development would be prejudicial to the construction phase of MetroLink.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Hammerson IVAC was seeking a temporary five-year planning permission for the 10 padel courts along with two converted, timber-clad, shipping containers to accommodate ancillary reception\/court booking, caf\u00e9 and rooftop viewing platform.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The council refused the application after the National Transport Authority (NTA) intervened, lodging a submission in which it said that the entirety of the proposed padel courts site \u201cis located within the \u2018Proposed Temporary Site\u2019 boundary which concerns lands that will be required during the construction phase of MetroLink\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The NTA stated that \u201cgiven a significant proportion of the subject site will be required to facilitate the proposed works, the proposed development would impact the construction phase of the project at this location and should therefore be refused\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The 11-page planner\u2019s report also stated that the Council\u2019s Transportation Planning Section was recommending that permission be refused for the same reason.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The proposed padel courts at Swords in Dublin which have been refused permission\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IB Padel.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">The proposed padel courts at Swords in Dublin which have been refused permission<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Two objections were lodged against the scheme. On behalf of Swords native William F Murphy of Ashling Heights, Blanchardstown, Peter P Gillett &amp; Associates told the council that \u201cwhile accepting that padel is a healthy and active sport with wide appeal, the current proposal at this location, given its unattractive design and lack of necessary support facilities, is undesireable\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The Murphy objection also claimed that the padel courts would \u201cdetract from the appearance of the Pavilions\u201d and result in the loss of a crucial parking area, reducing the number of spaces available for customers of the shopping centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">In a planning report lodged with the application by consultants Stephen Little + Associates, it had been said the proposal \u201cprovides a high-quality, accessible sports and leisure facility that enhances the recreational offering within the town centre, supporting continued investment, increased footfall, and vibrancy in the area\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The first part of Dublin\u2019s MetroLink project went to tender last month, with the maximum combined contract value at under \u20ac8bn, excluding Vat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), on behalf of MetroLink, started the process of selecting prospective bidders to tender for two contracts, M401 and M402. Both include heavy tunnelling, track alignment preparation, stations and structures, such as bridges, viaducts and tunnels, to form the core physical infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fingal County Council has refused planning permission to Hammerson for the sports facilities as they would be sited&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,29093],"class_list":{"0":"post-375332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-metrolink"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}