AN APPEAL taken with An Bord Pleanala against Faythe Harriers GAA Club’s proposal to build a new clubhouse at the GAA grounds in Park has been upheld and planning permission to the club has been refused.

The club had previously been granted permission by Wexford Co. Council when it applied in February of this year but Seamus Maye of the International Small Business Alliance group lodged an appeal against this decision with An Bord Pleanala.

An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission to Faythe Harriers based on the grounds that none of the documentation submitted made reference to or acknowledged the existence of any protected sites or conservation areas among the surrounding lands.

However, in Mr. Maye’s appeal, he also highlighted a number of other issues surrounding the land in the Park-Carcur area, including that of land ownership.

In the appealing letter, Mr. Maye pointed out anomalies between the club’s application form, where it stated that it was the owner of the land, and the attached site map which the club was said just to be occupying and using the land.

A Bord Pleanala decision is a final one and the club will now have to look at whether it wishes to reapply for planning or not.

Faythe Harriers club secretary William Murphy told The Echo that they were very disappointed with the final decision: “We’ve been planning this for a while and had hoped to start as soon as possible but now we’ll have to look at the decision and change whatever is needed before we apply again.”

The club was awarded a Sports Capital Grant of €150,000 this year for the purpose of building this clubhouse and the hope is that this has been ring-fenced for the club.