Down Velodrome Hopes Finally Disappear

During the meeting with the Minister, the Councillors had learned that while the Minister did not completely turn the project down, it was available to be entered in the list of projects for the Department’s Elite Programme but that was dependent of the availability of funding and competing directly against other projects. Given the time it would take for this to process, it was felt that the Council needed to deliver on a Downpatrick leisure centre. [caption id="attachment_6398" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="An artists impression of the velodrome which now will not be built near Downpatrick."][/caption] “There is still a glimmer of hope,” said Councillor O’Neill, “that the Minister did indicate concern for the costs we have so far incurred and the processes we had to go through. But I will be looking at this at a later date. There were no promises made. Now we need to refocus on a new leisure centre for Downpatrick.” Sinn Féin Councillor  Mickey Coogan also supported this motion and said, “The Minister told us last week what many of us already suggested. There does not seem to be any opportunity to recover our losses.” DUP Councillor William Dick added,”We did press the Minister hard as we were led to believe initially that we would not be at a loss… around £50,000 has been spent on this project along with officers time. It seems no guarantees were given. We made a very strong case and felt that we were misled. At no time did we believe we would be in a situation where there was no money available.” SDLP Councillor Eamonn O’Neill said, “I would have thought this was a matter of simple justice, but really we don’t have enough to support our claim for help. We did this at risk.” And SDLP Councillor John Doris added that there was now little chance of putting up a velodrome but “we need to speak up about the way we were treated as a Council… we have spent a substantial amount of ratepayers money… and we were led to believe that this project could be achieved. I don’t think we should let the Department off with this.” Sinn Féin Councillor Stephen Burns said after the meeting, “The Department has explained that earmarked does not mean ring fenced and the money is no longer available. When asked would the Minister consider resurrecting the Veledrome project in Downpatrick, she explained that with the limited budget all projects would be assessed upon the need in the area.” “Naturally I’m disappointed that the project will not go ahead, however, at least we can now proceed with our new leisure centres project in the District. I’d like to put on record my thanks to the Minister for meeting with our delegation and for her help and honesty”. Green Party Councillor Cadogan Enright was quite forthright in his views, saying “The Minister and the Department has saved up from having an expensive carbuncle in the middle of our countryside. We need to move on.” The work will now continue in identifying sites for a new leisure complex in Downpatrick and building up the business case but Councillors will continue to still try and recoup their losses from DCAL.]]>