Councillors clash over plan for Belfast football pitch to be shared by two teams
Councillors have clashed over plans for a North Belfast football pitch to be shared by two teams.
At the full monthly meeting of Belfast City Council on Monday night, a divided council voted to make an application to the Football Fund supporting Newington Football Club to use Ballysillan Playing Fields as its home ground, alongside Ballysillan Swifts, who are the grassroots home club in the area.
42 councillors voted in favour of the proposal while 17 voted against. Councillors who voted in favour were from Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party, the SDLP, the Green Party, and People Before Profit, while those who voted against were from the DUP, the UUP and TUV.
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Plans for the pitch upgrade have been at the centre of some controversy over recent weeks with Ballysillan Swifts believing they were to be the ‘priority user’ at the facility which is being paid for with Stormont money as part of an Urban Villages project aimed at regenerating the area.
At Monday’s night’s meeting, one Sinn Féin rep said the Urban Villages business case “recognises Ballysillan Swifts as priority user, nobody is saying we should take them out of it”. But he added: “They should be a priority user. But there is no mention in that business case at all about exclusivity.”
However, a DUP councillor said the Urban Villages plan is about “investing in a community, investing in Ballysillan and Ardoyne. Newington is completely outside that area of influence”.
Belfast City Council last month confirmed work will shortly begin to upgrade Ballysillan Playing Fields, with potential for a new stadium, as part of a £9 million investment under the Stormont Urban Villages programme.
The council said: “As part of the upgrade, a new 4G soccer pitch will be installed and council officers are currently considering how this facility can be maximised for community use.”
Representatives for Ballysillan Swifts said they were shocked to find that plans for the upgrade of the pitch at Ballysillan Park appeared to change in recent months, and believed it meant they were no longer going to be the priority user at the new facility. The side had been involved in meetings, consultations and site visits since 2017 as part of the Urban Villages plan.
At the full council meeting on Monday, the Chief Executive John Walsh announced that a ‘procedural call-in’ had been made regarding a proposed letter supporting Newington Football Club by the council - a proposition originally put forward with majority support at a secret committee meeting away from the public and press last Friday.
That committee agreed “to provide a letter of support to Newington Football Club in relation to a new home pitch, in principle, at Ballysillan Playing Fields, to enable its application to the Football Fund”. On a vote, 15 elected members voted for the proposal and five against and it was declared carried. The DUP made the call-in on the decision before the full council meeting on Monday.
Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said at the full council: “Effectively what is being attempted here is the derailing of a letter being given to a football club to obtain funding, as an asset to the city. And the reason behind this is something that we all know - the whole city knows why they are obstructing this.
“It is because they don’t want a certain club, because of their background, playing on a pitch. That is the black and white of this.”
He asked the Chief Executive for the “merit” of the call-in. Call-ins involve an independent legal examination, and if seen to have merit they can potentially set off an equality impact assessment, then a re-determination of any council decision.
When asked by Councillor Beattie if there was evidence in support of the call-in the Chief Executive replied: “There is nothing with us at this stage.”
Councillor Beattie asked for the council meeting to go into recess for the Chief Executive to evaluate the merit of the call-in.
Sinn Féin Councillor Ryan Murphy said: “There is potential to delay this for another month. We know the request came into us (from Newington) because they are time-bound in terms of the application they are about to make. I would question the motive behind the call-in. We have seen there was an attempt at the committee to try and delay this.”
DUP Councillor Sarah Bunting said: “The reason we have made the call-in is because we believe there could potentially be financial ramifications and legal ramifications for this council, if we move forward with this.”
Alliance Councillor Sam Nelson said the DUP call-in was “a fairly underhand way to block the decision”.
After a short delay in council proceedings on Monday the Chief Executive said: “The position is that the decision taken at committee was to provide a letter of support to Newington in order for that club to pursue its application. It has since been clarified that the application for this would have to come from us, Belfast City Council, as the land owner.”
He said a decision on that could proceed, thereby negating the call-in.
Councillor Ryan Murphy then proposed that the council would become the applicant to the Football Fund in order to “allow the alterations to Ballysillan Playing Fields as part of the Urban Villages Project” - and involve Newington Football Club using the facility.
DUP Councillor Bunting said: “It is my understanding if the council makes this decision we could potentially have to pay 40 percent of the cost. And that has to go back to committee.”
DUP Councillor Jordan Doran said: “This is a complete change to the Urban Village Project and the purpose of it. Urban Villages are investing in a community, investing in Ballysillan and Ardoyne. Newington is completely outside that area of influence.
“Quite frankly, until we get an opinion from the Department for Infrastructure and Department for Communities, who are the funders of the £9 million, we will not be supporting this or anything detrimental to the club in our community.”
TUV Councillor Ron McDowell said the decision to involve Newington was “deeply damaging to the reputation of Belfast City Council in the Ballysillan area”.
Councillor Ryan Murphy: “This has the potential for the council to own a Championship and Premiership standard stadium in a council facility. We don’t have too many of those across the city of Belfast. It is an opportunity to have one right in the middle of the Oldpark ward. In Ballysillan. When we talk about the business case from Urban Villages, which recognises Ballysillan Swifts as priority user, nobody is saying we should take them out of it.
“They should be a priority user. But there is no mention in that business case at all about exclusivity, that they should be the only users on that site. That’s where there seems to be a bit of confusion on this. This is about maximising the usage on that site.”
He added: “Nobody is trying to stop Ballysillan Swifts from playing there. It is their home, it is right on their doorstep. They should be able to access that facility when they need to, they should be proud of that facility, and it will be their home.
“All we are talking about here is having a pitch sharing arrangement, where another team within the North Belfast constituency can come in and use it, to be able to play home games in North Belfast. I don’t think that is too much to ask.
“I think most people can see this for what it is - there is a problem from where the other team is coming from, the background of that team. And we should be calling it out for what it is, if it actually encourages others to show leadership on this issue.
“We look at the threats at Ballysillan in regards to the team that is trying to access this, and we know that council staff have also been intimidated in regards to this. All of that should be called out. This should be a positive news story for North Belfast.”
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