The Mark Farren Stand has yet to be completed.
Members of Derry & Strabane District Council have unanimously backed a proposal to write a letter to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, asking to extend the deadline for funding from the NI Football Fund in the wake of a ‘change in criteria’ which they believe has excluded the council from applying for funding for the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
Sinn Fein’s Christopher Jackson believes that the Minister’s decision that local councils must match up to 40% of funding for completion of the project is unrealistic and potentially ‘deliberately discriminatory.’
The Sub-Regional Stadia Programme for Football is intended to improve football in the region with the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium eligible to receive funding from the £36.2 million pot.
Clubs can apply for one of three categories of grants as part of the programme, namely projects with a total cost of up to £1.5m, up to £6m and, finally, more than £6m, with Derry City FC confident that they would receive funding of up to £6 million to help completion of the Mark Farren Stand.
As Brandywell Stadium is a council-owned ground, members are concerned that the criteria will make it near impossible for the work to be completed, and will now ask that the deadline for applications be extended beyond March 14.
At yesterday’s full council meeting at the Guildhall, Cllr. Jackson outlined his concerns:
“Council isn’t awash with additional money and there was criteria within that NI Football Fund that was unveiled by the Minister that placed a stipulation that any council applications required 40% contribution,” he explained.
“The Football Fund has been long-awaited, and has been something that the people of this city and district have been crying out for, for a long time. The delays have been met with frustrations.
“I know that this council have been working very closely with Derry City Football Club to advance a business case to apply for this which would include the extension to the Mark Farren Stand.
“In fact, the Department of Communities funded that business case that was predicated on a 5% contribution. The change in criteria and the inclusion of the 40% has essentially excluded this council from applying. In our view, it’s very concerning. People more cynically-minded than us would describe it as discriminatory, is deliberately discriminating against a council, which made it very clear that we hope to be making an application.”
Cllr. Jackson proposed that Council write to the Minister highlighting their concerns in relation to the ‘unequal criteria’ and the ‘unrealistic expectations for councils to come up with that level of funding within a very short period of weeks, for an application ‘that would have such an impact on this council area.”
‘Completely unfair’
The proposal was backed by SDLP Councillor Rory Farrell, who said:
“People need to understand the challenges that exist around this process. Everyone is aware that the Sub-Regional Stadia Fund was first mooted 14 or 15 years ago and that was on the back of Ravenhill getting millions, Windsor Park getting millions, and I’m not even going to mention Casement, but there were three stadia in Belfast that got substantial money from torment. Derry got nothing, so this fund is long overdue. The news that has come out that councils have to match fund this application to the tune of 40% is completely unfair.
“If a club applies or submits an application, they’re expected to match fund a minimum of 5%, but when it comes to a council-owned property, it’s 40%, so we think that’s not fair, and it’s not balanced. Gordon Lyons thinks that the councils have stashes of cash put away. We don’t.”
People Before Profit’s Shaun Harkin also supported the proposal, insisting that a case had to be made to the Minister that this decision was an ‘injustice’.
“There is a great expectation that the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium is developed. This is a huge opportunity for that to happen, and now the Minister is putting unnecessary obstacles in the way,” he stated.
“I think that the request that we find money for a 40% match finding to the department’s contribution is unacceptable. We need to make it clear that we’re being asked to make this decision in an extraordinary quick way and we need to revisit the requirements. If this happens, it will just continue the many years of underfunding for the Brandywell Stadium and for sports right across our district.
The UUP’s Derek Hussey offered another solution, saying:
“In the past, I had mentioned the potential for Derry City Football Club to acquire this stadium,” he said. “I understand, and maybe we can get clarification, there may be some legal grounds as to why they cannot do so- to me that would be the ideal solution for the football club to acquire the stadium and get the 95% funding going forward.
“I understand the frustration and have no problem supporting the motion, but remember the full purpose of the grant aid is not to benefit local authorities, it’s to benefit football clubs.”
“We have got to be aware of the criteria within the particular funding. I appreciate that it was mentioned that perhaps that criteria has been changed, and if that is the case, that’s wrong.”
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