New plans for Con Smith Park revealed

Plans for major investment and a regeneration of Cavan Town’s Con Smith Park - to include a basketball court, toilet facilities and other amenities - have been published.

The Part VIII notice for the public site at Keadew, Kinnypottle, Ballyhaise Road, was published by Cavan County Council last week under Planning & Development Regulations 2001 with public consultation underway.

Improvements to landscaping, seating, footpaths and the entrance are all proposed.

The council also hopes to add a coffee and public toilet facility kiosk with associated external seating space, install public lighting, refuse storage, bike parking, and build into the site an external half-size basketball area.

The local authority also want to extend the existing playground, together with all associated site development works.

The development has been subject to an Appropriate Assessment screening in accordance with the EU Habitats Directive and the Planning and Development Acts. As part of that processin, the council concluded that there is “no real likelihood” of significant effects on the environment arising from the planned development and therefore an Environmental Impact Assessment is not required.

Con Smith Park is named after Lavey native Con A. Smith (43), one of 12 of Ireland’s most prominent businessmen at the time to perish aboard British European Airways Flight 548 when it crashed near Staines, Middlesex, soon after take-off from London Heathrow to Brussels.

The British European Airways Trident had been taking the party of Irish businessmen attached to the Confederation of Irish Industry, a forerunner to today’s IBEC, of which Mr Smith was President.

They had been travelling for discussions with EEC officials ahead of Ireland’s entry to the now European Union.

The park was dedicated in Con A. Smith’s memory in 2009 after the land was bequeathed to Cavan County Council by the late Mr Smith’s father Con P. Smith, himself a local businessman of note. The request was that the land would be developed for the people of Cavan, to be utilised by both young and old alike.

Particulars of the proposed park redevelopment will be available for inspection or purchase at the Planning Office, Farnham Street, Cavan Town (online viewing) and the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District Office, Ballyconnell, by appointment only, up to and including September 20.

Details of proposed development are also available for inspection online and under ‘Materials’ on the Cavan County Council consultation platform.

Submissions may be made online at planning.localgov.ie/en, via ‘Make a Submission’ on the Cavan County Council consultation platform, or in writing to the Planning Section, Cavan County Council, Farnham Street, Cavan Town, up to 4pm on October 4, 2024.