Community Partnership Project Opens in Ballybeen

November 29, 2019

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council is delighted to officially open the new £1.8 million Ballybeen Sport & Wellbeing Hub in Dundonald, to address the needs of the local community. 

This new top quality sporting facility includes: a new full size grass football pitch realigned on the site, a new enclosed and floodlit 3G training MUGA pitch (75m x 50m), changing pavilion, roadside parking and footpaths, and has been developed by the Council in partnership with the local community group Ballybeen Improvement Group (BIG).

Alderman James Tinsley, Chairman of the council’s Leisure & Community Development Committee, officiating at the opening, said: “Discussions on this new sports hub have been taking place for a few years; and we are delighted that it has been opened within a year of planning permission being received.  This new sports hub is the latest addition to our assets and we now hand over the responsibility of managing it to BIG, the local community group.  We are confident that local football teams and schools will use it all year round and the extended path network around the facility compliments the local highway to heath initiative.

“Community spirit, health and wellbeing are very important within Lisburn Castlereagh and these new facilities will attract sports players, coaches and teams in addition to uniting families at cross-community sports events and matches.  I wish BIG every success as it manages this new facility and we hope that everyone respects this space that is for the enjoyment of everyone.”

The project received £160,000 of support from the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. Match-funding would also have been provided by The Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.

Councillor Jonathan Craig, Chairman of the Lisburn Castlereagh PEACE IV Partnership added: “We were delighted to be able to part fund this project under the ‘Shared Space and Services’ theme.  This 3G pitch will be used on a sustained and shared basis by teams from across local Lisburn Castlereagh communities and further afield.” 

The full size grass pitch will only be playable in the 2020 football season when the grass has had time to knit in. 

Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council will be installing a new play park adjacent to the sports hub by summer 2020 and will officially open it in due course.