Galgorm Castle: Rumoured to be the new site for the IFA’s national football training centre in Ballymena after withdrawing from proposed location in Antrim.
Antrim and Newtownabbey councillors have been advised the Irish Football Association’s interest in the development of a national football training centre at a 60-acre site at Birch Hill Road, in Antrim, has been “officially withdrawn”.
A report presented to the council’s Operations Committee at a meeting, at Antrim Civic Centre, last week, said “an alternative preferred site is now in development with a private owner”.
The committee was told the council’s role was as the sponsor body in facilitating the land transaction between the Education Authority (EA) and the IFA. The local authority had been requested to act as a sponsor body by the Department for Communities (DfC).
The report noted the planned development was “intended to support the national football teams’ training needs while providing wider community benefits”.
Councillors were advised:
“Correspondence has recently been received from the Department formally advising that the IFA has officially withdrawn interest in the site at Birch Hill Road and that an alternative preferred site is now in development with a private owner.”
The Education Authority (EA) has confirmed the IFA is no longer proceeding with the purchase.
A spokesperson for the EA said:
“On 21 October 2024, the EA was advised by the IFA that they were no longer proceeding with the purchase of the EA’s site on Birch Hill Road, Antrim.”
Speaking at the Operations Committee meeting, Macedon Ulster Unionist Councillor Robert Foster said he was “absolutely dumbfounded”.
He criticised what he described as a “move away to a private developer site” and demanded the IFA comes to the council to “explain itself”.
“Birch HIll was clearly selected as a preferred site,” he stated.
He proposed the council writes to DfC to express its “abject disgust at how the IFA has conducted itself with regard to their fellow stakeholders”, to inquire how much has been spent to date on the project and to seek an assurance public funds will not be available for a private site.
Also commenting at the meeting, deputy mayor Antrim Cllr Paul Dunlop BEM, a DUP representative, said:
“My question is simply: we were told Birch Hill was a preferred site, so what has changed? For Antrim, this would have been a great facility for grassroots football.”
Cllr Foster’s proposal was seconded by Antrim DUP Alderman John Smyth.
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said:
“No funding has been awarded at this stage. The Department expects IFA to provide a business case on the development in the coming months.
“The Department has incurred some costs related to exploration of suitable options for the disposal of a site owned by the Department at Birch Hill in Antrim. This includes internal costs, valuation, and concept design.”
DfC said that “consideration of the site options is primarily a matter for the IFA”.
A spokesperson for the IFA said:
“This is a matter of commercial confidentiality and, as such, we are not making any comment at this time.”