CROKE PARK DEVELOPMENT/Hill 16 and Nally Stand: Local residents are set to object to the GAA's plans for the fourth phase of the Croke Park redevelopment. A planning application for terracing at the northern end of the ground was published yesterday. A previous application to retain the terrace at the Hill 16 end was rejected after a third-party challenge to An Bord Pleanála.

"Our initial response," according to a spokesperson for the Croke Park Residents' Alliance, "is that we don't have any opinions on whether the crowds at this end stand or sit. Our problem is with the increased capacity. Fully seated the ground would take 79,500. If the GAA obtain this planning permission, the capacity goes up to 82,000 or 83,000. In the building of the stadium they have lost about 2,000 seats of the projected capacity, so we're talking about additional numbers of about 4,500.

"In the light of failure to deliver on cleansing, parking and crowd control measures, we would feel no alternative but to oppose this planning application."

It is nearly three years since the GAA's previous plans to terrace phase four of the redevelopment were rejected by An Bord Pleanála despite a favourable inspector's report. There was surprise at the time that an objection based on access and egress mechanisms should be ultimately upheld on totally different grounds.

At the time the decision was based on the trend towards all-seated stadiums, the government code on Safety at Sports Grounds, and the fact that original planning permission had been given - as mentioned by the residents' spokesperson - for a 79,500 capacity rather than anything larger.

The terracing plans have been updated and re-submitted on the basis that the GAA feel they can prove that the international trend is now swinging away from all-seater grounds and that state-of-the-art safety measures have made the provision of terracing even more secure. It is also the case that the 1996 Safety Code specifically states that standing accommodation can be as safe as seating.

The plans now encompass the demolition of the Nally Stand and the Hill 16 terrace and the construction of a new terrace, together with an elevated event control centre. It remains to be seen if the re-submitted plans get the approval of the planning authorities given the vagaries of the process.

At the launch of the director general Liam Mulvihill's annual report last month, GAA president Seán McCague explained that the association would have liked to complete the bowl effect by seating the northern end.

But the cost would be prohibitive, as the railway line behind Hill 16 would have to be incorporated into any stand structure. In order to construct such a development, it would be necessary to acquire a lot of property on Clonliffe Road and Jones's Road.

Residents have been campaigning for improved procedures on match days. "We are aware," says the residents' spokesperson, "that the GAA say they are putting four times as much resources into their agreements with the Corporation for clean-up services after big games, but we have yet to see proof that the current situation is much better.

"Parking is set to be a bigger problem now that Clonliffe College, where cars and coaches used to park, is closed. All those people are going to be looking for parking now.

"Crowd control is another problem. The GAA is going to colour-code tickets in future so that people have to go through barriers at the appropriate point. It will distribute people more efficiently and we definitely welcome that, but more needs to be done.

"More intensive policing would prevent things like urinating in public and also enforce the law on drinking in public. Laws have to be enforced. It's not all within the control of the GAA. There's a culture that need to change.

"What we're looking for now is an effective monitoring system for the effect on the locality of Croke Park. Sanctions have to have teeth, such as a close-down of capacity if conditions aren't met."

Last year the alliance made no secret of its opposition to other sports being played at Croke Park - not for ideological reasons but simply because it would mean more big matches in the vicinity. A public statement said that the residents didn't want to be used by either side in the Rule 42 argument. Last weekend's congress came to the same conclusion. "We don't have a view on that," was yesterday's reaction.