Edenderry GAA Club News
November 25, 2014
Edenderry GAA Purchase 10.6 Acres of Land for Expansion.
22nd November 2014
Edenderry GAA has announced that the club has completed the purchase of 10.6 acres of lands in order to expand its operations in Edenderry. The new lands are located in close proximity to our existing site and will be developed to supplement the existing facilities at Carrick Road, Edenderry. The announcement was made by Club Chairman, Colm Cummins at the Annual Edenderry GAA Awards Evening, held at Edenderry GAA Pavilion on Saturday 22nd November last.
Background
As Edenderry's oldest sporting organisation, Edenderry GAA Club has played a central role in the sporting, social and cultural life of the Town since its formation in 1891. For many years, the club has been served by its own facilities at Carrick Road, Edenderry. A 7.9-acre site, acquired in 1933, consisting of one full sized playing pitch, clubhouse and a small training area. Over the past decade, we have witnessed dramatic changes in the Town and its wider environs. The growth in population combined with the explosion in popularity of Ladies football, and resulting increase in playing numbers has put pressure on our facilities and we are now in a position where over 35 teams are vying for the use of one pitch during peak summer periods.
Figure 1 - Membership Growth 2010-2013
During 2007 and 2008, we considered selling our existing complex in order to leverage the asset in favour of a larger site. The prevailing market conditions meant that the only financially viable locations available for consideration were located at too great a distance from the Town centre. Ultimately, we were not prepared to abandon our central location for an unsustainable location, beyond safe walking and cycling access.
Therefore, in seeking to overcome our problem of inadequate facilities we initiated a Strategic Club Planning process in mid-2009. One of the key themes of our Strategic Plan is the development of our existing facilities and the identification of additional lands for expansion. During 2010, we invested €380,000 at our current facilities. The largest part of this investment consisted of new changing rooms and spectator stand, an energy upgrade of our clubhouse and investments in new pitch developments at our grounds and lands belonging to Offaly VEC. During this period of investment we continued to seek out additional lands for purchase. The downturn in the property market and de-zoning of the residential lands in close proximity to the town centre in the latest review of the Edenderry Local Area Plan (2011) created opportunities to acquire land in more sustainable locations.
In November 2011, we began negotiations for the purchase of 10.6 acres of land, adjacent to our existing facility. An offer for the lands was made in 2011 based on a valuation by our Auctioneer, Donal Byrne. Progress has been slow as a number of legal issues pertaining to the lands have been resolved. All outstanding issues are now resolved and the lands are being purchased by Edenderry GAA.
In the coming weeks the club will commence the process of examining the development options for the 18.5 acres of land under our control. The club expects that the wider membership will have a major input into the design. It is hoped that a formal launch of overall fully costed masterplan will be published early in 2015.
