DOWN GAA remains committed to building a centre of excellence in Ballykinlar, despite a funding setback that could have expedited the multi-million pound project.
The county board had submitted an application for government levelling-up funding, but the Ballykinlar project was not one of 10 chosen across the North to share the £71 million pot.
Had the bid been successful, it would have covered the vast majority - if not all - the anticipated cost anticipated and allowed work to commence in the near future.
However, suggestions the project had run aground as a result of missing out on levelling-up funding are “wide of the mark”, according to county board chairman Jack Devaney.
“For us, levelling-up made a lot of sense,” he said.
“It was well known that we would be making a submission and, to be perfectly honest, it was talked up. We would’ve been very hopeful about it. But we’re not the only ones who are extremely disappointed - there were other very good projects that didn’t succeed either.
“We put a lot of work into it, and the work that went into that application will still stand to us in relation to other funding opportunities. But any notion that not succeeding in the levelling-up bid kills the project is very much wide of the mark. It is still the project we intend to deliver.
“For the area that you have, for the opportunity that’s there, this is the project we’ve committed to – there’s absolutely no question about pulling back from that. We’re determined that this will be it.”
Planning approval for the centre of excellence was granted by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in 2021, with plans including four full size GAA pitches (three of which are floodlit), spectator seating, a multi-use games area, changing rooms, fitness studio and ancillary offices on a site that was formerly part of the Ballykinlar army base.
And it is still hoped that, even with a phased approach, work could get under way on stage one by the end of the year.
“Our project wasn’t dependent on levelling-up successful - we knew it would be quite competitive, but we felt we had a very strong application and would have been quite disappointed,” said Devaney.
“We imagined from the start it was more likely to be a staged development, and that’s what we’re working on at the moment – that it would take a few phases to do this.
“There’s 30 acres here so how we will look at it is, if you were to put it out in stages, what are your priorities? We’d look at doing a few floodlit pitches with a changing facility and gym first, then move to the next stage.
“Along the way, there will be funding opportunities and there may be certain stages of the project that might neatly fit into those funding opportunities.
“It would still be our hope to start on the first phase this year – we’re just working on what those phases look like at the moment, what are the opportunities that are there for funding.
“But it will be a staged approach. It’s not as though some funding opportunity is going to come this year that’s going to allow you to make an application to cater for the entire project in one go.”
