Minister orders stadium viability probe

A UK government study was ordered today into whether a new sports stadium should be built in Northern Ireland.

Angela Smith, the North’s Sports Minister, said she had asked Northern Ireland’s Strategic Investment Board to investigate whether a new stadium would be commercially viable.

The Northern Ireland Office Minister Angela Smith said: “For years there has been argument and debate about such a stadium and I believe it is now time to see whether the figures stack up.

“The three sports which would be most closely involved in any future project - soccer, rugby and Gaelic games – are currently looking at their future needs and that is why I want to explore the issue in greater detail.”

The UK government’s announcement that it is commissioning a business plan comes a week after the team behind London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games said they hoped to bring men’s and women’s soccer events during the Games to Belfast.

The Northern Ireland football team’s home ground, Windsor Park, was named alongside Hampden Park in Glasgow, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, St James’ Park in Newcastle, Old Trafford in Manchester and Villa Park in Birmingham as possible Olympics venues.

Fresh calls for a new stadium in Belfast have been gaining momentum after officials from Uefa, European soccer’s governing body, told the Irish Football Association it needed to improve facilities at Windsor Park.

Uefa’s warning that a new drug-testing room and better floodlights were needed prompted fears that Northern Ireland’s lucrative World Cup qualification games against England, Wales and Poland might not be staged at Windsor Park.

Ms Smith confirmed the Strategic Investment Body’s probe would be headed up by Tony Whitehead, who was part of the financial team appointed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone two years ago that saved the Wembley Stadium project.

However, she was at pains to stress that, by ordering the business plan, the UK government was not committing itself to a new national stadium.

She said: “I want to make it clear, however, that this does not commit the government to building a stadium.

“I just want to establish in principle whether the project is commercially viable and for that reason the consultants’ brief will not, at this stage, include the examination of possible sites where a stadium might be built.”

The board is expected to report back to the minister by the end of May.