A long time coming... A football pitch, community buildings and playground among new facilities for Johnstown

ANN CASEY

Proposed new community facilities for Johnstown will include a football pitch, community building/changing facilities and a playground, councillors were told last week.

Meath County Council is currently engaging with a developer on the transfer of lands for the facilities in the Dunville area  of Johnstown, and councillors will travel to Dublin to see a number of state of the art facilities to inform the deign of the new Navan amenities.

Cllr Yemi Adenuga had asked for an  update on the progress so far.

She was told the council is continuing to engage with the developer on the transfer of lands for the development. Initial details of the land area have been provided by the developer, with the Council seeking further information which will allow the appointed architect to begin their survey and design work.

Cllr Alan Lawes and Cllr Edward Fennessy proposed a joint motion, calling on Meath County Council to arrange a field trip for the Navan MD Councillors and the relevant officials and consultants to visit a number of facilities in Dublin to learn from best practice and design on similar facilities in Dublin, in order to develop a modern state of the art community facility in Johnstown

The facilities suggested were F2 Centre Fatima, Finglas Resource Centre and Family Base Ballyfermot.

They were told that given the feedback from the public survey, the need identified was for a football pitch, community building/changing facilities and playground. Any design must incorporate all

of these and any site visit could help inform the design of the community element of the building.

Cllr Lawes said a visit to these centre would give ideas on what could be provided in Johnstown.

"The people of Johnstown have been waiting for facilities for so long, that I don't think, I will believe it until there is a actual planning application," he said.

Cllr Fennessy said that there were up to 26 different groups in the area looking for facilities.

He welcomed the fact the council is moving closer to delivering amenities in Johnstown as "great news for the local residents."

"They've been starved of decent community infrastructure for far too long.

"The three facilities mentioned in our motion are regarded as some of the best in the state. It makes perfect sense to look at what they do best and incorporate those qualities into the Johnstown development.

"We must be ambitious. This project gives us an opportunity to develop a state of the art facility that meets the needs of a broad ranging and diverse community in Johnstown. A field trip to Dublin is a no brainer for me, we could only benefit from the experience."

Cllr Emer Toibin noted that the transfer of land hadn't taken place yet. "It is soul destroying that nothing seems to have moved on," she said.