Kildare jockey school to build eight flats

APPRENTICE jockeys in Kildare town can look forward to some degree of extra privacy with the news that the Race Training Academy has just received planning permission to turn its dormitory into eight self-contained flats.

Horse Racing Ireland made the application in October to convert its two-story ‘senior dormitory’ at its academy on the Dublin Road in Kildare town, and got the good news last week.

The new plans will allow for the provision of the eight “living units” consisting each of one bedroom, one bathroom and one kitchen and living area, “for use by international and national students as on-site accommodation for race educational trainees”.

The build will include a new, two-storey staircase, and entrance lobby.

“It is considered that the proposed development is acceptable in principle … (and) there is unlikely to be any significant negative impacts arising in the locality,” said the planner in his formal report.