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Ards stadium plans blocked

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THE building of a new football stadium in Newtownards has been vetoed by the Londonderry family of Mount Stewart estate.

Ards Football Club has been without a stadium for 14 years since it was forced to sell Castlereagh Park in 1998 to repay debts. Since then they have been playing their home games at Ballyclare, about 20 miles away.

In October 2010 Ards Borough Council received planning permission to redevelop a public park leased to the town by the 7th Marquis of Londonderry in 1936 for 999 years into a floodlit 4,000 capacity stadium.

However, the Marquis’s descendant, Lady Rose Lauritzen, has said she does not feel Londonderry Park is the right place for the stadium.

In a statement issued to the Newtownards Chronicle, Lady Rose said she was a huge fan of football, and would like to see Ards Football Club return to the town.

“I have a moral obligation to my grandfather who gave Londonderry Park on a very long lease for the recreational use of the people of Newtownards,” she said.

“This means it was to be used by everyone, not just a commercial football venture, which is what was planned.”

Lady Rose supports the council’s other plans to upgrade the existing sports facilities at Londonderry Park for the use of young and amateur sports people, which she thought was a “wonderful idea”.

“The only thing I am against would be Londonderry Park becoming a commercial football stadium which is what it would have had to have been to keep it going,” she said.

“I don’t want Londonderry Park to be just a commercial venture. I would like to see it used by everyone in Newtownards, especially the young people who can play sport in an amateur way.

“I really want to see all sports facilities upgraded so that there are really good sports facilities for everyone in Newtownards, not just the football club.

“This would leave a green space, which could be used, for instance, for people walking their dogs.”

A meeting of Ards Borough Council last week, it was claimed a lands tribunal could prove costly and there was no guarantee of success.

Several councillors, including Kieran McCarthy (Alliance), Jimmy Menagh (Independent) and Ronnie Ferguson (UUP), expressed disappointment, and Mr Ferguson urged the council not to give up.

DUP councillor Stephen McIlveen proposed that a feasibility report be carried out into leasing land on the other side of the Portaferry Road to Ards Football Club for peppercorn rent to allow them to build their stadium there.

This was agreed by the council and consideration will be given to locating the stadium on the periphery of the town.

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