Machinery Yard in Kildare is unsuitable for planned swimming pool — KCC

The site of a Machinery Yard located in County Kildare would be unsuitable for a proposed swimming pool.

Kildare County Council (KCC) made the comments at the latest Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District (MD) meeting, which took place on Wednesday, September 16 last.

Near the end of this meeting, Social Democrats councillor Chris Pender raised the subject via the submission of a question, which read as follows: “Can KCC confirm whether the provision of a public swimming pool at the former Machinery Yard [in Newbridge] is included in, or being considered as part of, any funding application already submitted or being progressed for the Newbridge Central Settlement Consolidation Site, and [can KCC] outline the next steps required to progress the swimming pool element?”

In response, KCC issued a lengthy report to his question.

The report read as follows: “As a result of research in progressing the North Kildare Pool project, KCC has developed a fuller understanding of the spatial / site requirements for a public swimming pool, ancillary buildings and services and the magnitude of costs.

“With this in mind, it is apparent that the Machinery Yard is not suitable as a location for such a facility.”

‘CONSIDERATION’

KCC elaborated: “It is noted that TCO 4.4 (b) of the Newbridge Settlement Plan states [that] in the event that the provision of a swimming pool at the former Machinery Yard is not feasible, consideration should be given to the lands to the east (immediately adjacent to the road) in the Newbridge North Key Development Area lands zoned ‘F (2): Open Space and Amenity’ having regard to Objective HCO 6.1).

“At present, as advised in previous motions (April 2026), a swimming pool for the MD is not currently listed in the Capital Programme, accordingly within existing resources in the Community Department, there is no funding to progress a study on a pool in this MD.

KCC also pointed out: “The ‘Community and Civic’ category of the Capital Programme for 2026-2028, noted at the November 2025 Budget meeting, for this MD, includes over 20 capital projects in receipt of some funding to initiate and a further 7 projects listed as ‘subject to future funding.’

“In terms of planning for future requirements, the County Kildare Active Recreation Infrastructure Study, an objective of the Development Plan will assess the current recreation provision in towns in the county, and the projected needs to 2040 based on population trends, and this will strongly inform future Capital Programmes, for swimming pools and social and community infrastructure generally.

“The Land Activation Office is currently at remediation planning stage of the Machinery Yard and masterplan stage of the overall Newbridge SCS; tenders for both projects will be issued before the end of the year, however, both of these projects remain unfunded at this point.”

KCC concluded by asserting: “TCO 4.4 (b) still applies in relation to the [proposed] swimming pool.”

Speaking further on the matter, Cllr Pender remarked: “The answer on my question seems to be no.”

He also stressed to KCC that the community of Newbridge ‘was not seeking an Olympic-size swimming pool’.

Despite his comments, a representative for KCC who also present at the meeting doubled down on the contents of the report.

“We wouldn’t be for the Machinery Yard [as the chosen site], to be honest,” they said.

In addition, they told Cllr Pender that they had concerns for the size requirements, noting: “We would need to think about [designating] space for dressing rooms and car parking, for example.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.