By Lesley Walsh
PORTAFERRY Sports Centre, which has been partially closed for over two years, could shut completely because of a broken heating system.
The centre has had no heating system or hot water for over three months and with the arrival of much colder weather this week, fears are growing that doors at the complex could soon close.
Cracks on the floor of the sports hall mean that part of the Portaferry centre has been out of action for two- and-a-half years which left the community, clubs and pupils of nearby St Columba’s College unable to use it.
This week the school principal, James Hay, said the sports centre is an ‘important resource’ for pupils and the wider community, adding that ‘its closure has had a significant impact on local sport and wellbeing’.
The issues that have bedevilled the sports centre have been labelled a ‘shame and disgrace’ by local councillor Joe Boyle who said if the problems had existed in Bangor or Newtownards they would have been fixed long ago.
The SDLP councillor has been campaigning for a resumption of normal service, stating thousands of pounds have been lost in revenue due to sports clubs’ inability to use it, and local communities have been robbed of local leisure activities.
Dubbing the current condition of the sports centre as a ‘third world facility’, Mr Boyle said estimates to have the heating system replaced have been put at between £23,000 and £30,000.
As with the outstanding repairs to the floor of the sports centre, there has been confusion over who is responsible for fixing the heating system. Mr Boyle said at a recent meeting of the council’s Active and Healthy Communities Committee that it has now been established that it is the responsibility of the Education Authority (EA).
“The EA and the Department for Education have been an absolute disaster and to be quite frank the Minister’s responses haven’t been a whole lot better,” said Mr Boyle. “I think it is a shame and disgrace the way that centre is being treated.”
Stressing that ‘one sporting club on its own would have put nearly £15,000 into that centre’ if it had been open he pointed out: “We have lost that.”
He asked: “Are people genuinely telling me that if St Columba’s College was located in the centre of Newtownards or Bangor and the equivalent of Portaferry Sports Centre was sitting in Newtownards or Bangor that it would be two-and-a-half years before the EA or DoE would come and do anything? I think not.”
Mr Boyle said the town was ‘out of sight and out of mind’ due to its geographical isolation and that ’has to stop’.
He said users of the gym, which continues to run, have to wash in ‘freezing cold showers’, and staff have only a ‘couple of wee heaters to keep warm’.
The difficulties with the centre have also been preventing pupils of neighbouring St Columba’s College from full use of its sports facilities, as well as ratepayers in nine local communities around the peninsula.
Head of the college, James Hay said the school is committed to working with any and all parties to see the Portaferry Sports Centre reopened and fully operational. “The centre is an important resource not only for our pupils but for the wider community, and its closure has had a significant impact on local sport and wellbeing,” he said.
Mr Hay expressed his gratitude to Mr Boyle for ‘his support and for helping to highlight this issue’. “We look forward to continued constructive discussions that will lead to a positive outcome for everyone in the area,” he said.
A Department of Education spokeswoman has responded to the latest call for action from the Minister, stating: “St Columba’s College submitted an Unavoidable Minor Works Application to the Department of Education on October 24 related to heating issues in the Sports Centre. “Departmental officials are currently liaising urgently with stakeholders to agree a way forward in relation to the required works.”
The Education Authority stated it would ‘welcome conclusive resolution of this issue’ but is understood to have ‘competing priorities’ to deal with in a ‘maintenance backlog’ of repairs to schools across the region.
