Give us back our pitch
By Lesley Walsh
RESENTMENT is brewing in the Clandeboye area of Bangor amid claims that a football pitch created as part of a £500,000 council investment has turned into a drugs den and dogs toilet.
The football pitch was established on ground off the Clandeboye Road in 2014, alongside a multi-use games area (MUGA) and playpark.
However, it quickly became apparent that the pitch was too narrow to accommodate Amatuer League matches and was also prone to flooding. Within weeks of being completed the goalposts were removed without a game being played.
Last week local councillor Jennifer Gilmour brought a motion to Ards and North Down Council’s Community and Wellbeing Committee, on behalf of all the Bangor West councillors, asking for the pitch to be reinstated for the benefit of the community.
The DUP politician said the surface of the pitch has since deteriorated into what she described as now appearing ‘like a field’.
She revealed that hopes were raised in July this year when white lines appeared, but these ‘were removed the next day’.
Mrs Gilmour said there have been claims from council officials that it was a recreational area, rather than a football pitch, but she rejected these assertions.
“It was built as a pitch, it was used as a pitch but now it’s being used as a dog toilet and by drug users,” she said.
Mrs Gilmour said she was calling on the council to ‘reinstate the goalposts and mark out the pitch so that it can be played on by the local community’.
The motion was backed by councillor Carl McClean who said he has an architect’s plans in his possession which clearly describe it as a football pitch.
“Ninety nine per cent of the work has been done,” he said, adding all that remains were the goalposts and markings as well as ‘signs warning of fines’ to those who allowed their dogs to foul on it.
“They don’t want bells and whistles, just a pitch; it would mean a lot to the community,” he said.
Councillor Stephen Hollywood said the situation had ‘fuelled a growing resentment’ among the local community.
Stating it had been ‘much-hailed as a significant step forward in an area lacking in such a facility’, he said the ‘unfulfilled promise’ has had a ‘profound effect on the youth and in a deprived area’.
He said it had robbed them of the chance to play a team sport like football to help ‘improve their health and wellbeing’.
Councillor David Chambers of the UUP said the Clandeboye community ‘deserve to play football on a football pitch’.
“They’re not asking for changing rooms or showers, just a pitch that’s fit for purpose,” he said.
Green Party councillor Lauren Kendall said the situation was a ‘bit embarrassing’ for the council.
Independent councillor Wesley Irivine said it was ‘a shame it has got to this stage’.
Summing up the debate, Mrs Gilmour called for council officers to produce a report looking at reinstating the pitch and considering the long term maintenance of the site.
The motion was passed unanimously by the committee.
