Racehorse trainer Dermot Weld is among a number of people to complain to An Bord Pleanála about Kildare County Council's handling of a planning application to redevelop the Curragh racecourse.

The Trustees of the Turf Club were granted planning permission by the council to build a 72-bedroom hotel and part-demolish the west stand of the Curragh racecourse and to realign 1.1kms of a regional road to the north of the racecourse in Co Kildare.

Percy Podger and Associates on behalf of Friends of the Curragh Environment said in an appeal to An Bord Pleanála that they are making a complaint to the European Commission regarding "you the Irish Planning authorities, the Irish state and the applicants" regarding "the breach of EC directives inclusive of 85/337 EEC".

The appeal contends the application is fundamentally flawed and that Kildare County Council's decision to grant permission was made on foot of an invalid application.

In his appeal, Dermot Weld of Rosewell House, The Curragh requests an oral hearing because the application is "effectively the extinguishment of a public right of way", and said the council's administration of the application "supports the view that a default decision to grant permission may be deemed to have been made on July 29th".

Geraldine MacCann of Loughbrown Stud, The Curragh, says she is participating in the planning process to ensure the development will not unduly affect her property and stud farm.

The Turf Club property adjoining her lands "has been used for overflow car-parking during events and resulted in trespass on her land and nuisance due to noise and windblown litter".