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Casement Park: Maze site board wasn't told of GAA car park plans

Plans for the redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast
Plans for the redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast Plans for the redevelopment of Casement Park in west Belfast

THE board in charge of the former Maze prison site wasn't told about proposals to use it for a park-and-ride in plans to redevelop Casement Park.

And upon learning of the proposal, the Maze Long Kesh Development Corporation (MLKDC) stressed it did not want the site "perceived as a car park".

It is the latest issue to emerge with the west Belfast GAA stadium project which for years has been beset with problems and delays.

In February the GAA submitted a revised planning application with a reduced spectator capacity of around 34,000.

The plans include using the Maze/Long Kesh (MLK) site 10 miles away as a dedicated car park during major games for thousands of GAA supporters, who will then be bussed to and from the sports ground.

Clubs will also be encouraged to include travel arrangements in ticket sales as part of a transport strategy aimed at easing traffic congestion.

But according to MLKDC minutes in April, board members said the proposal had "never been discussed" with them.

MLKDC representatives then met with Ulster GAA officials, according to minutes in May.

They "confirmed with them that no request had been received by the corporation regarding the proposal to use the MLK site as a park-and-ride facility".

The GAA said they were looking at various options, their planning application "was not dependent on the availability of MLK", and that any such proposal would be a "temporary arrangement".

The minutes added: "In closing the discussion, the board stressed the importance of ensuring that the MLK site was not perceived as a car park, and that development of the site remained the board's primary objective."

Ulster GAA's park-and-ride proposals could be scuppered by the Stormont executive's collapse almost a year ago, as they require sign-off from the first and deputy first ministers.

For the past four years, most proposed development of MLK has been blocked because of an unresolved spat between the DUP and Sinn Féin.

The row relates to stalled plans for a £300m redevelopment of the former prison site, where the IRA hunger strikes took place.

In 2013, then first minister Peter Robinson halted plans for a peace centre after unionist critics claimed it would become 'a shrine to terrorism'.

The late Martin McGuinness, then deputy first minister, responded by saying no further development would take place until the issue was resolved.

Since then the majority of applications to use the site have been blocked.

The only significant development was when Mr McGuinness and then first minister Arlene Foster in 2016 gave approval for the north's new Air Ambulance to use the site as a landing base.

The former Maze prison site was originally set to become a £55m multi-sports stadium.

But the plans were scrapped in 2009 and Stormont instead set about upgrading three separate Belfast sports grounds for Gaelic, soccer and rugby. Casement is the last of the three left to be redeveloped.

Civil servants in the Department for Infrastructure will decide on the planning application if no new executive is formed.

In October, Ulster GAA confirmed it was "in discussions" with MLKDC.

Asked whether the park-and-ride would require ministerial approval, an Executive Office spokesman said: "There has been no change to the Maze/Long Kesh site event approval process."