Councillors give nod for long-awaited pool in Balbriggan

Fingal councillors have granted planning permission for the council to build the county’s first public swimming pool.

The long-awaited community pool in the Castlelands area just south of Balbriggan was given the council’s green light by councillors at their monthly meeting on Monday evening.

The plans are for the pool to be 25 metres long, have six lanes, and be housed within a single-storey building with a viewing gallery, said a report from chief executive AnnMarie Farrelly, put forward to councillors as part of the internal planning process known as Part 8.

They also include solar panels, a biodiverse green roof, parking, cycle facilities and pedestrian links.

In an earlier iteration, the pool was set to have a consistent depth of 1.35 metres. But, following public consultation, the council has changed the design so that it has shallow and deep ends.

It was a really good day, not only for Balbriggan, but for the county, said independent Councillor Tony Murphy at the meeting. “This is the first municipal pool that Fingal County Council are delivering and I’m sure there will be more.”

Construction is expected to begin in early 2027 and take 15 months, said David Storey, Fingal’s director of environment, climate action, active travel and sports. “But that is subject to tender, subject to costs.”

Building out Castlelands

The new municipal pool is set to be delivered within Castlelands, a future neighbourhood where Ballymore is currently building 817 new homes for the Land Development Agency (LDA).

It’s known as the Hampton Demesne project.

The pool is to be built on a 0.589 hectare greenfield site within that, and is to benefit from the new Castlelands Link Road that the LDA is delivering, said Pat Boyle, a council senior architect, at the meeting.

There would also be 41 car parking spaces, five motorcycle spaces, and a coach space, with the pool, he said.

And, 40 sheltered cycle spaces, he said. “Safe access is also provided by segregated cycle and pedestrian routes, which create a strong permeability through the site.”

The facility itself is to have a “changing village area” with private cubicles and two group changing rooms, he said. “A dedicated Changing Places room, highly equipped room to provide for enhanced universal access is provided near the main entrance to the building.”

The pool is designed to accommodate competitive swimming with six starter blocks, and is also to have a pool hoist system for people with a mobility impairment, he said.

It will be a fully electric building system, he said, “with no fossil fuels used to heat the building or pool”.

Consultation

In February, the council ran a public consultation for the Castlelands pool.

They got 148 submissions, one of which had multiple signatures, Boyle told the meeting.

Some highlighted the lack of gym and wellness facilities in the plans, he said. But “the proposal is intentionally focused on delivering the dedicated swimming facility where there is a gap within the county”.

There are existing leisure facilities locally, he said. “The intention is to complement rather than duplicate them.”

Another submission,  authored by Bernard Sweeney, chairperson of the North Dublin Winter Swimming Club, queried the council’s proposal to build a pool with a fixed depth of 1.35m.

While this would be suitable for certain recreational uses, the depth would limit the pool’s ability to host water polo, competitive swimming, artistic swimming and lifeguard training, Sweeney wrote. “A modular hydraulic floor would address this limitation by allowing the depth to be adjusted.”

Instead, the council decided to amend the depth to be 1.1 metres deep at its shallow end and 1.8 metres deep at the deep end, Boyle said.

Both the shallow and deep ends will be 8 metres long, he said.

The project and the changes made in response to the consultation were largely welcomed by councillors.

But, how did the project compare to Dublin City Council’s plan to redevelop its old swimming pool and leisure facility out in Irishtown? Labour Councillor Brendan Ryan asked.

Designs for the new Irishtown leisure centre show a 25-metre six-lane swimming pool, a learners’ pool, a 100-station gym, three studios and changing rooms at an estimated cost of €43 million.

Balbriggan on the other hand is “wet only”, Ryan said. “So to what extent was that a budget constraint?”

The project is currently estimated to cost just below €12 million, said Boyle.

Modifying the pool depth will push costs up by approximately 2.5 percent of the overall development cost, he said.

It is significantly below Dublin City Council’s plans out in Irishtown, he said. “The cost was constrained, but also our ambition was to deliver a swimming pool that met the needs of the community.”

They looked at models that included dry facilities, he said. “But this worked out better.”

The operational costs are estimated at €235,000 per annum, he said. “The operational models are still under consideration.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Darragh Butler asked if the pool would be able to hold competitive meetings. 

It would be low-level competitions, Boyle said. “Local competitions, county competitions. It has been provided with starter blocks which will be very useful for training purposes, for events.”

Storey, the director of sports for Fingal, said that the next step will be to bring to the council in June a proposal for a loan to fund the pool.

If that loan is approved by the council, and the Department of Housing and Local Government, Fingal County Council will go to tender and construction, he said.