THE NATIONAL Roads Authority has told An Bord Pleanála that the 10,000-seat football stadium proposed by Drogheda United is "premature" because the motorway junction beside it is expected to be the starting point of the Dublin outer orbital route.
Earlier this year Meath County Council agreed to contravene its development plan so permission could be granted for the €65 million stadium, leisure centre, retail units and a motorway service station. The 25-hectare site is south of Drogheda within the Co Meath boundary. It is on the Drogheda to Duleek road and beside the Duleek road junction with the M1.
The authority appeal is the only one against the permission and its submission says the feasibility study on the proposed €2 billion orbital route which would link Drogheda to Naas has identified that it "is likely to begin at the M1/R152 Duleek road junction."
The orbital route is a key objective of the regional planning guidelines for the greater Dublin area and the planning application "is premature pending determination of this route", it argues.
The NRA says this junction was the most likely because "there are major constraints" in the Boyne Valley between Drogheda and Navan. Part of the valley is a designated Unesco World Heritage Site and "there are significant landscape constraints". As a result "the options for connecting the orbital route to the M1 are greatly restricted."
The NRA says the junction would have to be upgraded to support the traffic flow described in the application and because the junction is part of the motorway public-private partnership (PPP) contract it "will be much more difficult complex and expensive" to upgrade.
While the planning board is not expected to make a decision until later this year, concern remains about the future of the club's existing grounds in Drogheda.
Fianna Fáil councillor Tommy Byrne, father of Meath TD Thomas Byrne, has called on Drogheda Borough Council to "write to the NRA and ask them to withdraw their objection".
Mr Byrne did not get the support of his fellow councillors to do this but they did agree to put their support for the decision of Meath County Council to grant permission in writing.