Official says EU “would never have funded” Botanic field if it was temporary project
The community garden at the Lower Botanic Field
Sinn Féin and the SDLP have clashed with Belfast Council officials over environmental work at the proposed site for a controversial GAA pitch plan.
The two nationalist parties are saying community gardens, pioneering Queen’s University research plots and a wildflower meadow at the Lower Botanic Field in Stranmillis, South Belfast, were always a “meanwhile use” – in preparation for the field being dug up for a 3G gaelic pitch.
However, at a City Hall committee meeting this week, a council official said that the hundreds of thousands of pounds that has been put into the field via the EU Upsurge environmental project would never have been funded if the project had been anything other than permanent.
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Locals who use the Lower Botanic field in Stranmillis were perplexed and outraged last Friday (February 6) after Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey posted on Instagram what she described as “confirmation (of) the delivery of new GAA pitch” in reference to a decision made at a Belfast City Council committee meeting.
Residents from the area are complaining the announcement came out of the blue, with no trailing or local consultation, and the whole question of the Botanic Field’s use appears shrouded in secrecy in council meetings and minutes of committees. Friday’s announcement by Sinn Féin ultimately proved to be premature, after the full council on Monday (February 9) agreed to shelve the plans for further discussion, but locals who use the field have expressed alarm and uncertainty about the future of the space.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP are saying the field has been long ear-marked for a GAA pitch, according to the council’s Pitch Strategy targets, and the biodiversity and community work there was only temporary.
Other parties are saying the pitch strategy is clashing with the council’s own Biodiversity Strategy at the location, and that there are legal obligations that come with the EU Upsurge funding. Meanwhile local residents and community groups are looking at how to defend the field from what they believe is City Hall decision making being imposed without consultation.
At the council’s Climate and City Resilience meeting on Thursday (February 13), Alliance Councillor Tara Brooks posed 17 questions regarding the matter, to be answered in an officer report for next month.
The questions include confirmation if there has been any community consultation with local residents regarding the plan, to remove or relocate the upsurge project and build a fenced pitch in the location.
She also asked what the time commitments were given to the Upsurge project by the council, in terms of the land use and the extent of the site available. Council officers were asked to confirm if it was intended as meanwhile-use and if it was made explicit at the time when the project was approved by councillors. They have been asked if it was made explicit at the time to project participants and in the EU Grant application.
Councillor Brooks also asked about the time requirements of the Upsurge project from the funders, and wanted confirmation if there was a commitment at the site until 2020. She asked about the implications if the contract was broken, if there was a financial risk that the grant funds for the remainder of the project would not be paid, and if there was a chance that the council would be barred from applying for future EU Horizon funding. She asked if there was a “reputational risk” to the council.
Councillor Brooks said: “I absolutely love the Upsurge Project, I am a huge fan and am very aware of the thousands of hours of community volunteering that have gone to make it a success.”
She said: “I think it is very important that we fully understand the implications of the decision. And again I want to be clear, my approach would be the same regardless of the sport – football, GAA, anything that is going to impact that site. It is not anything to do with a specific sport.”
A council officer said the Upsurge project at Botanic was “very much seen as an exemplar demonstrator project” and added “council officers were dedicated to the long-term success of that demonstrator.” He said officers were also working to bring the Pitches Strategy implementation plan to a council committee in March, and added this was “still a work in progress,” which would include an impact assessment statement on Upsurge, to be considered for the decision on the Botanic site.
Sinn Féin Councillor Séanna Walsh said at the committee meeting: “If my memory serves me right, at the time, it was always seen that it wasn’t going to be a permanent feature, that it was a temporary project, and there was funding for a particular period.
“That’s the way I have always looked at this project, that it was a learning project, that people could take lessons from it that could be applied anywhere. Other sites have been mentioned, one of which is the Waterworks.”
Another council officer said: “The project predates a lot of us in the room. We have had quite a lot of discussion with the project managers and the EU trying to work out the history of this project.
“But what I have been told is that the project would never have been funded had it been known there was going to be “meanwhile” temporary project. The EU would not have funded it. Somewhere along the lines, something has gotten mixed up.
“In the grant agreement, it does not say it is a temporary project. And it certainly is seen as a permanent learning hub.”
She said: “The Upsurge project has been really commended, and particularly Belfast. The EU League came to Belfast last year and were really impressed by the level of leadership by the council at such a significant signature site.”
Sinn Féin Councillor and committee Chair Micheal Donnelly said: “It should come as no surprise to anyone in this committee, none of the 16 members or the council officers, that there is a Pitches Strategy coming, or that this site has been scoped out.” He said officer information regarding an expectation of permanence from the EU was “new to me.”
SDLP Councillor Donal Lyons said: “I remember distinctly being told it was a meanwhile-use by various officers at Party Group leaders (meetings). That was communicated to us over a period of months over the years.”
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