By Lesley Walsh
PLANS for Ards and North Down borough’s first council-owned GAA pitch must be delivered at pace, now that money has been ring-fenced for the new Portaferry facility.
Ards and North Down Council has committed £6.5m for the sports complex on the Cloughey Road and local councillor Joe Boyle has said the project should be advanced ‘without delay’.
The SDLP politician, who has been campaigning for the facility for a number of years, has described the plans as ‘a hugely significant project, not just for the GAA community’, but also for the ‘wider sporting and community life of the borough’.
He said the project has been ‘music to the ears’ of local people, as attested by the results of two public meetings held to unveil the blueprints.
Council officials told people who attended the meetings, held in November and last month, that though the proposals had been drawn up to widespread agreement, the money would first have to be secured.
But at last week’s council meeting when district rates were set, that huge stumbling block was smoothed over when the council earmarked £6.5m to the scheme.
Mr Boyle said the proposed new pitch, within the ‘GAA heartland’ of the lower Ards peninsula, will be ‘adaptable for use by a range of sporting codes’.
“It is a much-awaited project that has received the overwhelming support from within the community and wider surrounding areas at both the November and January public meetings with representatives from council, Carlin Planning Consultancy and McAdam Design,” he pointed out.
“The proposed council-owned and council-managed facility, planned for Portaferry in the Ards peninsula, is ideally located in an area with a strong and growing GAA presence, currently home to three burgeoning GAA clubs within a seven-mile radius, Portaferry, Ballygalget and Ballycran,” he said.
And describing the area as a ‘natural and logical location for the facility’, he said the increasing participation in GAA sports by young and old alike demonstrated a ‘clear demand for a high-quality, modern playing surface to suit the wide range of activities’.
“This project has been under discussion for a number of years and that now the opportunity exists to deliver it, further delay cannot be allowed,” he reiterated.
“As the chairperson of the Ards and North Down Sports Forum I am in close contact with our sporting clubs and whilst I welcome the fact that there are numerous council-owned 3G and grass pitches that cater exclusively for football, there is however not a single council-provided GAA facility in or across the borough and this imbalance is long overdue and needs to be addressed.
“The support is there, the need is clear and the location is right,” he said. “This is a facility that has the ability to transform the entire Ards peninsula involving all sporting and wellbeing activities.”
