A Celbridge resident has lodged an appeal to An Bord Pleanála against planning permission granted to Surrey-based Ryder Cup Ltd for a park-and-ride facility at Weston Aerodrome in Lucan, Co Dublin for the Ryder Cup.

Helena Butler, with an address at Willow View, Primrose Gate in Celbridge, says the Hazelhatch-Celbridge Road in Co Kildare is unsuitable for large volumes of traffic as it has "many blind bends and inadequate footpaths". She says there will be a substantial increase in traffic on the road to the park-and-ride facility during the event, as the alternative N4/M50 route is "notorious for congestion problems".

Butler says the planning application for the park-and-ride facility was made in March this year "less than six months before the event" even though Ireland was named host of the Ryder Cup in 1998. "I believe this was deliberately left until the last minute to have the least resistance and to pressurise Kildare County Council into a decision," says the appeal.

"If plans had been lodged earlier, both the traffic management plan and pedestrian management plan could have been submitted prior to the granting of permission and been made available to the public so as to allow scrutiny of proposals." She suggests Baldonnell Aerodrome as an alternative park-and-ride facility, and says her appeal is not "vindictive" but she believes that by lodging this objection "if I can save one life on the roads, it will be worthwhile".

She continues: "I would like to point out that any citizen of Ireland has to wait an average five months for a decision from An Bord Pleanála, and do not see why an overseas firm should be given preferential treatment and their application addressed any quicker."