Northern Ireland Stadium News

Culture minister Edwin Poots was yesterday foiled in an attempt to “abuse” the democratic process by manipulating the DCAL Executive Committee to justify a publicity stunt promoting the Maze stadium plans later in the day.

A meeting of the committee was called for the architects and consultants to show off some pretty pictures (artist’s impressions) of what a new stadium could look like and then turn them over to the media to circulate. Members of the committee were furious that they were being used like this and walked out of the meeting, pointing out the absurdity of having a meeting like this without any kind of business case or feasibility study for the plans available after all this time, despite such details having been repeatedly requested.

The real agenda seems to have been using the meeting as a pretext for a news conference that would once more build up the hype around the Maze Stadium with the media following their usual unquestioning attitude to the plans.

“It seems to me that this committee is being used this morning as a platform to justify a PR exercise outside this room and to use the committee this way is an abuse of the democratic process.”
Nelson McCausland (DUP), DCAL Committee member

“This is like being asked to give an opinion on a car you are buying for someone without having seen anything other than how it looks.
…
We are not a plaything to be used in a political game of chess by the Minister. Treating a Committee in this way is corrosive to the democratic process and makes a mockery of DUP claims of accountable Ministers.”
David McNarry (UUP), DCAL Committee Deputy Chariman

Well said and well done. It’s about time someone stood up and questioned the minister’s unwavering support of this expensive white elephant. It’s just a pity that instead of doing their job over the last three years the media have simply been regurgitating government press releases, or maybe we wouldn’t have had to wait this long for it to happen.

Another startling example of the “let me just bend over for you” attitude of the local ‘press’ to the Northern Ireland Office was printed in the Belfast Telegraph yesterday in an Open Letter to Sports Fans in Northern Ireland penned by David Curran. Curran makes a lot of flawed assumptions and uses a lot of warped logic. It seems he made the mistake of actually believing some of the rubbish that has been said about the Maze proposals and opposition to them. To afford Mr Curran the generous assumption that his errors were honest, let’s look at his collection of “mistakes”.

(On a side note, the Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs have reportedly made repeated requests to have an opinion piece printed in the same paper. These repeated requests have allegedly been repeatedly ignored.)

Mistakes 1 and 2: “The British Government gifts us a 360-acre site, barely 10 miles from Belfast”

The site may be free, but surely Mr Curran is familiar with the concept of opportunity cost. A mere two lines later he says “We have the site for free to build a stadium, housing or other amenities.” The site is infinitely better-suited to a housing development than a stadium.

As for the location. The fact that it’s 10 miles from Belfast isn’t a problem. The fact is that it will be a nightmare to get to via the one road in and out and that there will be limited facilities to encourage supporters to hang around a while. This still (after those four years of “navel gazing” by Curran and friends) does not offer a solution to the problem that fans will simply have to turn up immediately before the match and leave again immediately after.
(more…)

The Amalgamation of Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubsand Belfast City Council are to host a debate on the national stadium issue in the Waterfront Hall on 25th January. Councillor Bob Stoker (Community & Recreation committee chairman) will be representing Belfast City Council, Gary McAllister (press officer) the Amalgamation of NISCs and Michael Smyth as an lecturer on Economics from the University of Ulster.

The Political Development has been invited to take part and the Maze Consultation Panel have been asked to nominate a representative as well to ensure a balanced panel. The Maze Consultation Panel’s chairman Edwin Poots (whose DUP party colleague Jeffrey Donaldson illustrated many politicians’ understanding of the situation perfectly when he dismissed the argument as a Belfast vs Lisburn issue and accused Northern Ireland football fans, overwhelmingly opposed to the Maze plans, of sectarianism at a council meeting in Lisburn) has already declined the invitation and the vice-chair Paul Butler (Sinn Fein) said he was unaware of any such invitation.
The Amalgamation has already made clear its opposition to the Maze plans due to a large number of different concerns through protests and press announcements and are in the process of establishing a website at NoToTheMaze.com

Although it’s being called a public debate please be aware that, because of demand, attendance is by invitation only. Invitations can be requested by emailing the Amalgamation of NISCs.

Stop the madness. Stop the white elephant. Sign the Stadium For Belfast petition.

Regeneration & Renewal, the leading magazine for the UK regeneration sector, has echoed StadiumForBelfast warnings that the proposed Maze stadium could be a white elephant comparable to the ‘financially disastrous’ Millennium Dome.  While planning consultants were reluctant to talk to the magazine on the record, in private they have confirmed the serious fundamental problems that exist around the Maze stadium plans. Just one of the major flaws in the plans is the fact that the stadium will be in the “middle of nowhere” and “the local population simply cannot support the planned leisure facilities during the stadium’s quiet periods.”

In a press release from Belfast City Council, Councillor Bob Stoker called on the government to pay attention to the field experts, saying “huge investment is required in our infrastructure, hospitals and other vital areas, so why is [the government] planning to spend this amount of money on a sports stadium, especially when professionals are telling them the location goes against all the advice from professionals and current thinking in the field. [sic]”

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 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.

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.

Sitting at 320 signatures, Stadium 4 Belfast got a mention in the Daily View today thanks to Henry McDonald’s weekly column, which this week, argues that the Maze is the wrong choice of location for Northern Ireland’s new stadium.

Read the full S4B reaction to the Daily View article right here on StadiumForBelfast.com

Ulster Rugby supporters are petitioning Ulster Rugby to abandon any ideas of playing games in Northern Ireland’s new multi-sport stadium if it goes ahead at the Maze. The Ulster Rugby Supporters petition is available for signing online, and they are also talking to rugby fans at Ravenhill for Ulster’s matches.

Read the Belfast Telegraph report