Build it in Belfast demands Irish News
Today it was revealed that no less than 7 proposals have been put forward to build a new Northern Irish stadium in Belfast, and in their business comment column, the Irish News claimed the NIO’s plans for a Maze stadium were simply ‘wrong’. While the government are quite happy to waste £85 million of taxpayers money on a white elephant at the Maze, here are private enterprises willing to put their own money where their mouth is and make the investment themselves because they know a stadium in Belfast will work.
South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell said any new stadium must be “easily accessible, close to transport links and integrated into a commercial centre - the Maze site offers none of these crucial components.”
At the start of the month, Belfast City Council said it would press on with plans for a Belfast stadium, regardless of whether or not the government went ahead with its proposals for the Maze site.
The 7 proposals are supposedly all connected to the three remaining candidate sites: Maysfield Leisure Centre, Ormeau Park and the North Foreshore of Belfast Lough, and are in response to a request for ‘detailed plans’ from Belfast City Council in January.