Laytown recreation park plans welcomed but disappointment over lack of community building

Plans for a community space focusing on sensory, social, play, biodiversity and sporting facilities are being proposed for a six-acre site in Laytown.

Various options for the council owned land at Laytown Park on the Tara Road were presented to local reps at a recent Laytown/Bettystown council meeting of Laytown from the Rural Regeneration Department. These included tennis courts, table tennis, a skate park, outdoor gym, lawn space, sculptures and walking paths. However concerns were raised about the lack of a community centre in the proposal which one councillor said was crucial for meeting the diverse needs of the community. The importance of accessible public toilets and a running track was highlighted. The discussion also touched on the challenges of acquiring land and the need for careful planning to ensure the project meets community needs and funding opportunities.

Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan said while she welcomed the proposed plan, she was disappointed that a community building was not included.

“We've already had the public consultation on the community building, we spoke to every organisation in the area over a year ago to identify their needs and their needs are vast in our community, for training space, for meeting space from the older generation right down to toddlers,” said Tolan.

“The fantastic library facility that we have is completely separate to what a community centre should and will be,” she added.

“I really want to see the community centre pushed forward. We're missing opportunities for grants applications the longer we sit and not come up with a design and a part 8 plan for what the community centre should look like.

“A park area is fantastic and all of those things would be amazing and badly needed and will be warmly welcomed but the Community Centre is absolutely key.”

Tolan suggested part of the six acre site be allocated for a Garda station.

“Can we look at providing one acre to the OPW to provide our permanent garda station?” she asked. “They are still looking for land and we're sitting on six acres,” added the local councillor.

“People will love a skateboard track but by god, they need a permanent Garda Station. And I would really propose here now that we adjust that design in some way, shape or form and not give it but sell it to the OPW on one acre or half an acre, whatever it is they need to provide a permanent garda station. We have the perfect site to really deliver everything that the community needs by way of services, including the much needed and sought after garda station.”

Sinn Fein Cllr Maria White said a community centre needed to be prioritised.

“I'm very, very excited about this. It ticks a lot of boxes for me, and I know it's not the actual plan, it's a concept at the moment but it just shows me a sense of it being a creative space and being ambitious,” said White.

“We have been without a heart, really, as a community, when you think about it, for a long, long time. You have people who are living here generations and we have people who are arriving new into the country, and we have people arriving new into the area and we need a space to get to know one another and grow this community which is so important so I think that a community centre needs to be prioritised.

“There's no point is forging ahead with this and the community building being an after thought.”

White also echoed Tolan's thoughts on a Garda station on the site.

“We are crying out for land, we have no Garda station, it was promised years ago,” she said.

However, Fiona Lawless Director of Services of Meath County Council urged the local councillors to think carefully about such a move.

“In my heart, I'd actually hate to give land to the OPW, because what the hell are they at?” she asked.

“You know, the other side of it is this, if you as members would like that, that is your prerogative. The other thing is, what do the Gardai need here? I don't think an acre is big enough and that was the issue that we were coming up with. You're not going to put much on an acre. Do they need a place to compound cars? Do they need a training area?

“If you look where Ashbourne has theirs, they are on a couple of acres. So the question is, as the Gardai themselves, they must identify what they need for a particular site. It was very hard to get that land.

“What if they came back and said they needed three acres of land, would we say yes? So we have to be careful what we might agree to.”