Casement Park: Nichola Mallon to recommend approval

Image copyright GAA

Nichola Mallon has said she is recommending approval for the long-awaited redevelopment of Casement Park.

The infrastructure minister she had “carefully considered” all of the representations and that it had been a “complex application”.

She said it would transform Gaelic games and the economy of west Belfast.

“I believe it will be truly transformational in sporting terms and economic terms for the whole of Ulster”, she said.

In February, Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey said the development would cost approximately £110m.

The initial cost of the new Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) stadium was estimated at £77m.

In March 2019, the Department for Communities (DfC) said the sharp rise in cost meant it could not give the go-ahead, even with planning permission, because of a lack of a minister at Stormont.

In January 2020, the GAA said planning authorities had indicated they were “hopeful” the process could come to an end, possibly by early April 2020.

On Tuesday, Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill welcomed Ms Mallon’s decision, saying it was a “great result”.

The initial proposals for the redevelopment of the stadium collapsed in 2014 under a legal challenge brought by a group of residents.

They objected to the size of the planned development.

High Court judge Mr Justice Horner identified failures in the environmental impact assessment of the increased facilities and an unrealistic reliance by the Department of the Environment (DoE) on an existing 32,600 capacity as a baseline for the project.

With far fewer spectators normally attending matches at the old ground, the judge also found that the effect of bigger crowds on the surrounding roads network had not been properly examined.

Image caption Casement Park is the traditional home of Antrim GAA

A fresh planning application was submitted in February 2017.

The new stadium has a proposed capacity of 34,186 – down from the GAA’s original plan of 38,000.

The GAA said height, scale and capacity were all reduced from the previous design and that it was aiming to work within the original budget of £76m.

Ulster GAA said it had received 95% approval from about 3,000 people who responded to the stadium consultation.

The infrastructure minister’s decision follows a change in the law which clarifies when a minister can make an autonomous decision rather than having to seek wider executive approval.

The legislation was changed after a court ruling on the Arc21 incinerator project in 2018 which meant every major planning decision would have to come to the executive.