Councillors have expressed anger after the Irish Football Association’s interest in developing a national soccer training centre in Antrim was “officially withdrawn”.
The centre had been earmarked for a 60-acre site at Antrim’s Birch Hill Road, but in a report presented to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Operations Committee, it was stated “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 council 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advised: “Correspondence has recently been received from the Department formally advising that the IFA has officially withdrawn interest in the site at Birch Hill Road and that an alternative preferred site is now in development with a private owner.”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 EA has confirmed the IFA is no longer proceeding with the purchase, and were advised by the soccer authority on October 21.
Speaking at the Operations Committee meeting, Ulster Unionist councillor for the Macedon area, 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.
Deputy mayor Paul Dunlop of the DUP said the Birch Hill Road site “would have been a great facility for grassroots football”.
A DfC spokesperson 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.”
They added 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.”
