Yahoo News Belfast Council to pay school £30K "for hot showers" as part of football pitches strategy
Belfast Council is to pay a high school £30,000 from its pitches budget "for hot showers," City Hall has heard.
At a recent Belfast City Council committee meeting, questions were raised as elected members approved an annual spend of £30,000 to be met from the council’s pitches budget to secure the use of Ashfield Boys’ High School as an intermediate soccer pitch for use by St Matthew’s Football Club every Saturday afternoon.
Following confirmation of a recurring budget of £500,000 for pitch improvements across the city in the 2024/25 year, council officers have identified a series of works at council lands in north, east, south and west Belfast.
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They include the creation of two full-size GAA pitches at Mallusk Playing Fields, and the installation of ball stops and spectator fencing at the Henry Jones Playing fields GAA pitch.
The programme also includes the installation of ball stop netting for the GAA pitch at Falls Park, and the conversion of one full-size soccer pitch into three small-sized soccer pitches as well as the refurbishment of a disused full-size soccer pitch at Strangford Avenue Playing Fields.
A council report states: “Further scoping work is underway at all existing sites to create a stand-by list of ready to go projects as and when budget becomes available.
“In addition to these infrastructure improvements at council facilities, officers are also working to identify partnership opportunities to secure community access to facilities owned by the Education Authority or by other sporting clubs.
“As part of this work, an opportunity to secure the continued use of Ashfield Boys’ High School as an intermediate soccer pitch for St Matthew’s FC has arisen at a cost of £30,000 per annum.”
At the most recent meeting of the council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, DUP Councillor Bradley Ferguson said: “Ashfield not that long ago had their pitch re-laid, and there was an excellent bit put in around the pitch for spectators. But if it is looking for £30,000 annually, what is this towards intermediate football?”
A council officer replied: “At a high level, what the school is telling us is that this is for showering facilities and hot water across the year. The only user of the facility that requires intermediate standard is St Matthews, and therefore the cost of this is entirely attributable to use by St Matthews.
“The 30K is literally hot water, showers, and the compliance in terms of replacement shower heads every quarter.”
Councillor Ferguson said: “I am supportive of as many clubs as possible, being where they need to be and playing at the levels they need to play at.”
He added: “There are an awful lot of clubs across East Belfast, and I am sure if I took the time and went across South or North or West Belfast, we would all find clubs. The fact we are going to spend this money on an Education Authority facility - this is where EA should be stepping in to invest.”
The council officer said: “From an officer’s point of view, there is no doubt that there are a number of clubs and a number of facilities that will have a similar request. This one has come up now simply because Ashfield are at the point of pulling the plug in terms of intermediate standard.
“Without this funding they feel they won’t be able to continue to support the facility to intermediate standard. The only user currently at intermediate standard is St Matthew’s, so this is an opportunity in terms of timing, particularly with the new season, and that’s why there is an urgency in terms of the decision.”
He said: “Certainly all the other work that is going on will be set out in the pitches strategy, what other EA facilities there are across the city where we will maybe be able to enter into arrangements. Ultimately this is providing an intermediate standard pitch for £30,000. It would cost in excess of one million pounds to build one.”
Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said: “This is a pitching strategy fund which is exactly for this. This £30,000, which is miniscule compared with what we have previously agreed, to make sure a football team can use a pitch in East Belfast.
“For us, we think this is good value for money, compared with purchasing a pitch, or even compared with widening a pitch, which would be considerably more. £30,000 is miniscule in terms of the overall pitches strategy.”
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