New airfield in Offaly ready for lift off after planning permission granted

PLANNING permission has been granted for a light aircraft landing strip, hangar and clubhouse in Offaly.

Funfly Aerosports Flying Club plans to develop the facility on land owned by Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick at Killeen and Benfield, Cloneyhurke.

They applied for consent to build a 722 sq m hangar and a clubhouse 113 sq m in size. The grass landing strip will be 623m long and 30m wide.

Funfly has four Savannah S small airplanes and they have already been operating out of the Clonbullogue airfield.

The club is a flight training organisation approved by the Irish Aviation Authority and in documents lodged with Offaly County Council, the club says it has “has developed a reputation as being one of the friendliest, inclusive flying clubs in Ireland.”

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Funfly offer flying training courses and the club directors say they will strive to make Benfield Airfield the leading training facility in the country for sport aviation and associated ground studies.

The club directors named in the planning application were Mark Brereton, Mark Dwyer and Padraig Reilly.

The application for planning approval was first made at the end of last year and it attracted submissions from one person who claimed the landing path would be over a local national school and a couple living “directly across the road” who were concerned about noise, echo, vibrations, invasion of privacy, property values, road traffic, animals being “spooked” and the creation of an “eyesore”.

Funfly engaged consultants who carried out studies and concluded that noise would not exceed nuisance or annoyance levels.

The club described itself as “community orientated” and said it will “demonstrate respect for each other and our neighbours”.

Funfly told the council it was incorrect of a submission to say the approach to the airfield was over a school and said any previous noise may have been caused by military aircraft.

In addition to providing flying lessons, the club say they will facilitate amateur aircraft construction through a "Build-A-Plane project" where club members and local secondary school students help build a kit aeroplane.

The club said the chosen site is “Class G Airspace”, “which is unrestricted, therefore training can take place at higher altitudes. There are no significant obstacles within the area, with a generous amount of large open fields, which are not inhabited. Furthermore, there are areas that are away from towns and villages where training can take place.”

Operation of the airfield will be weather dependent and will be from 9am to 4pm during the winter and 9am to 8pm during the summer, taking place in good weather only, when there is good visibility, no rain and light wind.

Average winter operations can be reduced to about two training days per week, the club said and flying will be at altitudes above 2,000 feet away from the airfield. Take off and landing training will be distributed around other airfields as well “to keep noise in the community to a minimum”.

While the maximum number of takeoffs and landings would be 25 per day each, actual movements are “likely to be significantly lower than this on most days”.

The club has four Savannah S aircraft and the instructors have in excess of 30,000 hours of flight experience and make safety the number one priority.

Funfly said all residents were approached in advance of the application and told the council: “There is widespread support for this development as evidenced by the lack of residents objecting... The noise footprint of club aircraft is very low and not dissimilar to that of a passing car or tractor.”

The club said the amenity “will have many benefits” for the local community. It sources all its fuel and various other supplies locally and “The airstrip will be available to visiting pilots from overseas who may use [it] as a base to explore the local area. This will benefit the hospitality and tourism sector locally.”

The 3.19ha site will be leased from Cllr Fitzpatrick, a Fianna Fail representative who has a farm in Benfield.