Once completed, the Broadford Community Sports Complex will be a state of the art Astro – Turf Pitch with LED lighting on the site of Brookville House. This project will include an extensive Car Park development for up to thirty vehicles with safe pedestrian facilities for easy access for all in our community.
Broadford Hurling Club purchased Brookville House back in 2022. This was only possible due to the generosity of nine members that lent a significant sum of money to the club to enable the purchase of the property. The club immediately set out to clean up the grounds and the house. This work really improved the property and the aesthetics of our village.
Focus then turned to the development of the property and plans were made for an artificial surface playing pitch with LED lighting and car parking facilities. While waiting for news on the planning permission, an application was submitted for the Sports Capital Programme and the CLÁR funding programme. After a significant spend on the purchase and improvements works on the property as well as planning fees, we now have a central site with planning permission for an astro turf pitch with part funding secured for the project.
To date, a total of €130,000 on Brookville House. These costs relate to its purchase of €100,000, safety and remedial works of €15,000, planning related costs of €10,000 and finally stamp duty. This has been funded by club funds and generous member loans.
Members of Broadford Hurling Club, Broadford Camogie Club, Broadford Minor Club, Broadford & Kilbane National School as well as our Junior Activity Club and Community Games will be supporting the completion of this project. A significant part of supporting the completion of the Broadford Community Sports Complex will be collecting funds.
Firstly, this project has the obvious benefit of providing sporting and active opportunities to all members of the Broadford, Kilbane & Kilmore community. Our clubs, National School and youth will gain a state of the art and centrally located sport facility.
The construction of car park facilities with extensive pedestrian measures in the centre of our village will provide much needed and safe parking facilities to ease the traffic and make our village safer during school drop off and collection times as well as ease the traffic around the GAA pitch during training and matches.
The pedestrian measures will mean easy and safe access for all from our National school and GAA Grounds.
Finally, the completion of the sports complex and the refurbishment of Brookville House will greatly enhance the aesthetics of our village and further improve the recreational facilities at our community’s disposal.
Who will use it?
The Broadford Community Sports Complex will be available to all members of our community. Firstly, all members of our sporting clubs, young and old will benefit from the development. The children in Broadford and Kilbane National School as well as those in Play and Learn Creche will have free and regular access to this facility. The Junior activity club and the Community Games groups will also benefit from access to the Astro Turf Pitch. This facility will also be available for locals to play a range of 5 a side games in.
We have outlined the expected costs for this project, the total costs will reach an estimated €330,000. Of this we hope to achieve a total of €220,000 in supports and grants, some of this, such as the sports capital grant has already been committed.
Proposed Cost:
Astro Turf, fence and lighting: €260,000
Car Park and Pedestrian Measures: €50,000
Council Contribution Fee: €20,000
Landscaping costs: €10,000
Total: €350,000
Grant aid and supports
Sports Capital Grant: €153,648
Clár Grant (Car Park/ Pedestrian) €50,000
Tomar Trust: €10,000
GMA Funding (Towards Council fee) €5000
Total: €228,648
Initial shortfall in Funding: €121,352
While much of this shortfall in funding will be funded by the Hurling Club through loans and savings, there is only so much that they can do. It is expected that up to €80,000 will need to be raised to achieve the completion of this development. This will be required before the commencement of the project as it is a requirement of the Sports Capital programme that the organisation show their capacity to fund a certain percentage of the project prior to commencement.
As a community, we were very disappointed to be charged a Council contribution fee of €20,000 as a condition of our planning permission. We feel that considering the many benefits of this project for the community, the voluntary status of the clubs involved, as well as the provision of much needed car parking facilities in the community, this fee is considerably high. Cllr Joe Cooney has recently committed €5000 of GMA funding towards the payment of this fee, and we would hope that the other councillors will also generously provide funding towards the payment of this contribution.
The refurbishment of Brookville House will be a complicated project due to its protected structure status and the derelict condition of the building. Step one will be a public consultation engagement with the entire parish. All suggestions/ideas on what the wider community would like to see happen with the property will be gratefully received. Once this information is collated, funding will be sought to have an Architectural Conservation Feasibility Study prepared which will take into account the Communities wishes and the historic built environment of this prominent street side village centre building. The resultant report will provide a roadmap for the rest of the project. Various funding streams will need to be accessed to fund a project of this scale. We see the project taking place in stages as there is no one fund that could cover the entire cost. Unfortunately, this is going to be a project that will take time, but we are confident that we’ll turn another top class facility over to the community on its conclusion.
The community of Broadford, Kilbane and Kilmore have always proven incredibly supportive. We are looking forward to working closely with the community to achieve the completion of this incredibly important development.