Northern Ireland Stadium 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.

The Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland tourist board has said that any new national stadium in Northern Ireland should be built in Belfast. He cited international experience that event organisers prefer a city centre location, and claimed that a Belfast stadium would attract more tourism, leisure and business events to Northern Ireland.

Find out more - read the full story.

The Belfast Telegraph reported a couple of days ago that Belfast Traders had been issued a “warning” from a business leader, Frank Moloney, in Cardiff, but all the report really demonstrated is the slavish adherence to the official government line which characterises in the local media’s coverage of the whole Maze Stadium fiasco.

Find out why - get the full story.

Despite opposition from over 90% of the national team’s fans, the Irish FA have agreed to send Northern Irish football to the proposed Maze Stadium, to be located on the former prison site just outside Lisburn. This comes just days after the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs released a very convincing and detailed paper documenting their opposition to the Maze project and very strong research to back it up. It would be easy to get the impression that in a few months, the Amalgamation have done more research than the IFA and government combined!!

For more details see the full story.

The Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs this evening gave a cautious welcome to the news that alternative proposals have emerged for the location of a National Stadium for Northern Ireland.

Read the full press release.

Despite the government’s protests that the Maze is the only viable site for a new major stadium for Northern Ireland, 2 new proposals emerged today from groups who would beg to differ. Both the proposals put forward today are based on developing sites in Belfast, near the city centre.

The first proposal, which has the backing of Belfast’s Chamber of Trade and Commerce, contains details of the potential for building a new stadium at the site of Maysfield Leisure Centre, closed and abandoned by the council last year and currently due for demolition. Although the site, which is adjacent to Central Station, is only 6 acres in size, the backers have drawn up plans for a 28,500 seater stadium with car parking facilities. A model of the proposal was completed by Peter Hunter of Arup Sports (a company that worked on the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Lansdowne Road in Dublin) showing how the site could accommodate a stadium.

The second proposal, backed by Paul Durien of Durien Quantity Surveyors, has enlisted help from a company that worked on Old Trafford and Hampden Park. It proposes that the “City of Belfast Stadium” be developed at Ormeau Park, currently the site of the O-Zone leisure complex. This site is much larger than the Maysfield one, but is thought to have been previously ruled out by the SIB on planning and transport grounds.

Last week the Strategic Investment Board said that they hadn’t been given any other options to consider. Now they have. With the Titanic Quarter seemingly being developed for other uses, it’s good to see the community in Belfast has not given up the fight to get Northern Ireland’s stadium built where it belongs – in the province’s capital.

The BBC reports ‘No support’ for new Maze stadium while UTV declare New proposals on NI stadium and the Newsletter announces City Alternatives To Maze Stadium.

Following Northern Ireland’s 1-0 victory over England last week in their world cup qualifying match at Windsor Park, Henry McDonald wrote in the Observer on Sunday a solid article entitled “One More Battle To Win - The new national stadium should be in Belfast, not Long Kesh.” In it, he points out what we all know, ie that “The only reason the British government chose the Maze/Long Kesh site as the preferred option for a new ‘national’ stadium is that it is simply the cheapest option.” (although the North Foreshore was also potentially free). He also reiterates a lot of Stadium For Belfast’s arguments, including Belfast being the entry point for tourists to Northern Ireland, established amenities and night life.

He does come up with a useful suggestion for the Maze site too: “If there is a future for the Maze/Long Kesh site, it should be as a location for new, affordable housing targeted at hard-pressed, first-time buyers.” Good idea. Any proceeds from the sale could even go towards buying the Titanic Quarter site.

Read the full “One More Battle To Win” article courtesy of the Observer and sign our petition.