Letter: With Casement costs growing, proposal for a stadium at Maze site should be revisited

The 360-acre brownfield site was, at that time, the largest development site in Europe and had been gifted to the Northern Ireland Executive from HM Treasury as part of the Reinvestment and Reform Initiative negotiated by David Trimble and Mark Durkan.

Following an extensive local and national consultation process, and an international call for development proposals, the board unanimously agreed on a development plan, which in turn was also unanimously agreed by the four main party leaders.

Central to this was the construction of a national stadium which would accommodate 30-40,000 spectators in flexible seating arrangements.

Crucially, the proposal had the support of the three main sporting bodies - the GAA, IFA, and Ulster Rugby.

From memory, the cost was in the region of £60 million but this was to be significantly offset by the sale of naming rights, stadium hotel and numerous concessions and the zoning of other parts of the Maze site for industry and housing.

The siting meant there was easy access from anywhere on the island and almost unlimited parking. Importantly, commitments were given that the stadium would have been used for some of the 2012 London Olympic Games events.

This historic opportunity was squandered by the replacement of party leaders who would not support any national facility outside of Belfast.

Twenty years on, the Maze site is still largely undeveloped, and the three main sports remain stuck in sites that have significant capacity problems and limits for growth.

This is part of the background to why Casement Park came back on the agenda for redevelopment - but surely even the most ardent of GAA fans must see that the site, the capital cost, and the unmentioned but critical recurrent costs have rendered this project untenable.

On that point, why are the recurrent costs not also the focus of scrutiny, and who is to pick up the bill for annual deficits?

My understanding is that the planning restrictions are so tight that only six concert or similar events per year are permitted, so how does it pay its way?

Also, no matter how this project is dressed up with the crumbs of a Euro 2028 soccer schedule, this is a single-identity project.

There is little or no support for it from the unionist community and no proposals as to how the expenditure will be balanced in the interests of equality.

If expenditure in the region of £300 million is now being seriously considered then the proposal for a proper national stadium, available for all sports in Northern Ireland, on the Maze site should be revisited.

David Campbell, former Ulster Unionist Party chair