The Munster Branch of the IRFU has been refused permission for the residential element of a major redevelopment plan for Musgrave Park in Pearse Road in Cork city.
An Bord Pleanála has, however, granted permission for a new two-storey stand at the west of the pitch, new dressing rooms, turnstiles and car-parking facilities at the 13.5acre (5.5 hectare site), beside the Vita Cortex manufacturing plant.
The new stand will increase Musgrave Park's capacity from 7,500 to more than 12,000.
The 42 apartments, 10 townhouses, two offices and one shop, planned by the IRFU to pay for the new stand, did not meet with approval from planners.
Musgrave Park is one of the Munster branch's two homes. The second is the better-known Thomond Park in Limerick, which is undergoing a major revamp.
Noting that the area had a zoning for "sports grounds" the planning board said the proposal to include an "unrelated residential/commer-cial development" on the site of the Musgrave Park sports grounds would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.
