Those behind plans for a new BMX track in Balbriggan, north Co Dublin, want to emulate the success of nearby Ratoath track in Co Meath, pictured above.
By Gerard Cromwell
Plans for a BMX track in the north county Dublin town of Balbriggan have ground to a halt, with the heel-dragging of Fingal County Council forcing the local club to forego a €35,000 grant from the Department of Health towards the building of the facility.
Having first proposed the construction of a track last summer, Balbriggan BMX Group and Balbriggan Cycling Club put on ‘BMX Fun Days’ on a temporary clay track in the north end of the town over a period of two days last July.
The event drew hundreds of riders and spectators of all ages and was attended by local politicians who gave the thumbs up to the idea of a full track being built.
News subsequently emerged the club had been awarded a grant towards the building of the track but they were unable to draw down on that cheque due to lack of progress on the County Council’s behalf.
“We got €35,000 in funding through the children’s section of the Department of Health which was the original body that gave us the money to put on the fun days,” explains Shane Wherity of Balbriggan BMX.
“Fingal County Council was the joint applicants along with ourselves in Balbriggan Cycling Club. But they had a problem in that they couldn’t do anything with the track for lack of planning permission.
“The grant had to be drawn down by the end of (last) year but the council don’t move quick, which meant we had to let the grant go. So we’ve lost that money. That’s gone.
“I suppose it was looking too easy there for a little bit. We only came up with the idea during the summer and we made great progress but we’re back to square one now.”
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All hope is not lost however, with an upcoming meeting with Fingal County Council all-important.
“There’s still light at the end of the tunnel," said Wherity.
"Even though we didn’t get any money from the grant in the end it did put pressure on a lot of people. An awful lot of people thought this was just a pipe dream or whatever but suddenly we’re announcing we’ve got €35,000 to build the track so that woke a lot of people up.
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“We’re getting positive feedback from the council but it’s just trying to get them to move a little bit quicker without upsetting people. We’ve got a good support from town commissioners and people like Peadar O’Kelly, Tom O’Leary and Minister James Reilly.
“It’s just getting the council themselves to make the decision that this is the location of the track, that they’re happy with it and then getting the planning permission and moving on. We have a meeting coming up in the next few weeks between ourselves and Fingal County Council to try and move this along and formalise all the talking.”
The last BMX track in Balbriggan hosted the All-Ireland Championships in 1985 and the idea of building a new one came about after some of the locals got involved in the recently built and hugely successful Ratoath track.
“Most of the lads involved in getting Ratoath up and running are the very same lads that would have raced on that Balbriggan track in the 80s,” says Wherity.
“They then set up BMX Ireland as a division of Cycling Ireland. Ratoath was going so well that people started talking about building other tracks. It was local lads who are currently out riding in Ratoath who wanted to get a track built in Balbriggan.
“A couple of us who work in construction built the fun day track and it went down a bomb. It really went well. The great thing was; the kids have something to do again. If you take the estate beside the track... There are an awful lot of kids hanging around doing ‘jack all’ and they’re just going to get in trouble.
“But they were all down helping us and they were down riding that track day and night and they’re out of trouble then. It’s an Olympic sport too. When the full track is built, those kids will have a purpose and that’s what it’s all about; getting the kids off the street and giving them something to do.
“It was unbelievable the amount of people that turned up. At the moment we have a Facebook page with about 800 people on it. The demand is definitely there but when you’re dealing with local authorities it takes time to put the wheels in motion.”
The club has earmarked the site used for the fun days as their preferred location. Just on the northern edge of the town, the site is on an unused green area beside some playing pitches and with floodlights and parking facilities nearby, seems ideal.
“We want to go for the site that we had the fun day on, down beside the all weather sports pitch. It’s down a bit of a dead end road. It’s not much use for anything else. It’s not big enough for a football pitch or anything like that but it would be grand for us.
“There’s a good access road down to it and yet it’s out of the way a bit. The plan is to build a full BMX track similar to Ratoath in scale and size.
“I suppose the council are stalling a little bit on one hand because they’re building one in Lucan at the moment in St Catherine’s Park. That’s under construction now, so I think what they’re doing is they want to build that one and see how it goes before they commit to anything else. I think that’s why they’re kind of kicking the can down the road a little bit.”
With the support of Balbriggan Cycling Club, BMX Ireland and Cycling Ireland, Balbriggan BMX will be integrated into the local cycling club, with kids hopefully progressing onto other branches of the sport as they get older.
“We already have a club in Balbriggan which runs a number of races every year. The structure is there and we can take that forward,” says Wherity.
“Really the model is, let’s say, like the GAA. Instead of having loads of small clubs all doing one little thing, we want to try and promote kids getting on a BMX, maybe progressing to mountain biking down the road, and then having the road racing available to them as well.
“Like the GAA, we hope to have a number of things available for a number of different ages. That’s the thinking behind it, as opposed to having two different clubs, two different committees and all that. Generally, it would cost about €150,000 to build it.
“We will be looking to raise whatever we can ourselves and avail of whatever grants we can. I think realistically, we need a plan of action by this summer.
"The track’s not going to be there by this summer but at least if we have commitment from the council and we had a site designated and had planning proposals on paper, that’s all we can really hope for and then, by the following summer, having a track. That’s being realistic. I think if you think anything else is going to happen then you’re going to be let down.”
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