Antrim Hurling

[Antrim Coaster]

Its a real shame that the foresight was not there to have something that could comfortably cater for 5000 ish - that would handle most finals and National League games as well.  I suppose maybe in their defence they were working on the basis of Casement being ready but at the same time Casement will be too big for County finals, semi finals etc and Antrim is perfectly located to be reasonably accessible for most teams in the county.  'Sure hindsight is always a wonderful thing' is generally what you hear when you raise anything at the higher levels regarding these type of projects.

The access beneath the railway line would prohibit a large scale development. In fact the project ran into difficulty regarding the Health and Safety aspect to allow for ambulance / medical teams access in the event of a serious injury to a player or spectator. They got around that by pointing out that a smaller ambulance (a hatchback car type) would be able to gain access.

[theskull1]

I see on google maps that there looks to have been a site entrance on the Niblock road. Possible that ground was only rented out to allow plant onto the site? Thinking about it though, you'd need access for heavy vehicles whenever pitch maintenance would need to be carried out would you not?

[Jeepers Creepers]

Its a real shame that the foresight was not there to have something that could comfortably cater for 5000 ish - that would handle most finals and National League games as well.  I suppose maybe in their defence they were working on the basis of Casement being ready but at the same time Casement will be too big for County finals, semi finals etc and Antrim is perfectly located to be reasonably accessible for most teams in the county.  'Sure hindsight is always a wonderful thing' is generally what you hear when you raise anything at the higher levels regarding these type of projects.

The access beneath the railway line would prohibit a large scale development. In fact the project ran into difficulty regarding the Health and Safety aspect to allow for ambulance / medical teams access in the event of a serious injury to a player or spectator. They got around that by pointing out that a smaller ambulance (a hatchback car type) would be able to gain access.

Thats one hell of a getaround. What if theres an incident with mulitple injuries or someone seriously ill.

[clootfromthe21]

'Sure hindsight is always a wonderful thing'

A real get out of jail free card is that one. Plenty of voices at the time when it was first muted, stating this Ulster Council led Casement redevelopment would not suit Antrims needs but those perspectives were simply  ignored. Dunsilly's design/layout should have had a level of contingency (in terms of how it would be used) built into it IMO.

I repeat again ... who would want to watch a national league game OR a county final in a 30K+ stadium where we'd be lucky to get 3-4 thousand?

Was it not self-evident from the off that the site was always going to be defined and limited by the railway line? In other words, there was/is never any possibility of it being other than a training facility. As such, there was no scope for contingencies such as using it for county and big club games. I presume this "limitation" in the scope of usage is reflected in what was paid  for it back in the day?

[doodaa]

Its a real shame that the foresight was not there to have something that could comfortably cater for 5000 ish - that would handle most finals and National League games as well.  I suppose maybe in their defence they were working on the basis of Casement being ready but at the same time Casement will be too big for County finals, semi finals etc and Antrim is perfectly located to be reasonably accessible for most teams in the county.  'Sure hindsight is always a wonderful thing' is generally what you hear when you raise anything at the higher levels regarding these type of projects.

The access beneath the railway line would prohibit a large scale development. In fact the project ran into difficulty regarding the Health and Safety aspect to allow for ambulance / medical teams access in the event of a serious injury to a player or spectator. They got around that by pointing out that a smaller ambulance (a hatchback car type) would be able to gain access.

That's unbelievable if that's true!

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

They had on the first set of plans an new access point to the pitches at the bottom of the car parking area but the cost issue of doing this meant that it was omitted. the civil engineering costs of constructing a new bridge etc was far too high.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

When you see the size of Casement in context with the existing dwellings you can see why theres concerns

http://epicdocs.planningni.gov.uk/ViewDocument.aspx?guid=a6711156-64fd-4ba7-b4b3-82e97bacaa37

to be fair when you see the plans its hard not to wish that we had it started 
http://epicdocs.planningni.gov.uk/ViewDocument.aspx?guid=7be4c088-7c5b-455f-9e1b-b29ce69ba9ce

[btdtgtt]

Will Casement go ahead?

Yes I believe so.
In some shape or form - we'll see what in time.
But there's too much to lose for some people for it not to go ahead.

It is believed a planning application will go in in November for a 34,000 seater stadium. You would have to imagine the odds are stacked against that at present.

Do you think that's still to high for the residents?
Or for safe emergency exit?

[btdtgtt]

Will Casement go ahead?

Yes I believe so.
In some shape or form - we'll see what in time.
But there's too much to lose for some people for it not to go ahead.

It is believed a planning application will go in in November for a 34,000 seater stadium. You would have to imagine the odds are stacked against that at present.

Do you think that's still to high for the residents?
Or for safe emergency exit?

Both and with the noises the emergency services are making (nee naw nee naw), I'm not sure how they expect to get around it.

I would have thought the next application would have been at a number & size which had been previously (behind the scenes) agreed with residents and emergency services.

On Dunsilly - being attended to by a mini-ambulance (car) is good going at the minute - be grateful for it! But maybe that limited 999 access answers the question as to why it'll not be developed for bigger numbers also.

[btdtgtt]

Will Casement go ahead?

Yes I believe so.
In some shape or form - we'll see what in time.
But there's too much to lose for some people for it not to go ahead.

It is believed a planning application will go in in November for a 34,000 seater stadium. You would have to imagine the odds are stacked against that at present.

Do you think that's still to high for the residents?
Or for safe emergency exit?

Both and with the noises the emergency services are making (nee naw nee naw), I'm not sure how they expect to get around it.

I would have thought the next application would have been at a number & size which had been previously (behind the scenes) agreed with residents and emergency services.

No idea why you would think that.

Because it would suit all parties.
And in this part of the world it's how things generally get done.

Providing of course there is a size that suits all parties!

[Antrim Coaster]

Its a real shame that the foresight was not there to have something that could comfortably cater for 5000 ish - that would handle most finals and National League games as well.  I suppose maybe in their defence they were working on the basis of Casement being ready but at the same time Casement will be too big for County finals, semi finals etc and Antrim is perfectly located to be reasonably accessible for most teams in the county.  'Sure hindsight is always a wonderful thing' is generally what you hear when you raise anything at the higher levels regarding these type of projects.

The access beneath the railway line would prohibit a large scale development. In fact the project ran into difficulty regarding the Health and Safety aspect to allow for ambulance / medical teams access in the event of a serious injury to a player or spectator. They got around that by pointing out that a smaller ambulance (a hatchback car type) would be able to gain access.

Thats one hell of a getaround. What if theres an incident with mulitple injuries or someone seriously ill.

Probably that's why Dunsilly will be a training centre for the county with no major championship matches scheduled.

[Jeepers Creepers]

Will Casement go ahead?

Yes I believe so.
In some shape or form - we'll see what in time.
But there's too much to lose for some people for it not to go ahead.

It is believed a planning application will go in in November for a 34,000 seater stadium. You would have to imagine the odds are stacked against that at present.

Do you think that's still to high for the residents?
Or for safe emergency exit?

Both and with the noises the emergency services are making (nee naw nee naw), I'm not sure how they expect to get around it.

I would have thought the next application would have been at a number & size which had been previously (behind the scenes) agreed with residents and emergency services.

No idea why you would think that.

Because it would suit all parties.
And in this part of the world it's how things generally get done.

Providing of course there is a size that suits all parties!

Last I heard.
GAA 34,000
Residents 25,000
Emergency services 18,000

Supermacs 60,000

[btdtgtt]

Will Casement go ahead?

Yes I believe so.
In some shape or form - we'll see what in time.
But there's too much to lose for some people for it not to go ahead.

It is believed a planning application will go in in November for a 34,000 seater stadium. You would have to imagine the odds are stacked against that at present.

Do you think that's still to high for the residents?
Or for safe emergency exit?

Both and with the noises the emergency services are making (nee naw nee naw), I'm not sure how they expect to get around it.

I would have thought the next application would have been at a number & size which had been previously (behind the scenes) agreed with residents and emergency services.

No idea why you would think that.

Because it would suit all parties.
And in this part of the world it's how things generally get done.

Providing of course there is a size that suits all parties!

Last I heard.
GAA 34,000
Residents 25,000
Emergency services 18,000

Thanks HS.

18,000 is better than 0.

Although those number deviations do highlight yet again what a monumental f**k up this project had been.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

no one will be happy or seems willing to compromise. It wouldn't surprise me if this project never happened at all and we were given a cash sum to clean the place back up and back to what it was before.

[btdtgtt]

no one will be happy or seems willing to compromise. It wouldn't surprise me if this project never happened at all and we were given a cash sum to clean the place back up and back to what it was before.

Given a cash sum by who?

There's no real opportunity for a "clean-up".
The stand needs demolished. The rest of the place is waste ground at best.
For a functioning stadium construction is needed.

We're all frustrated and I was certainly one who wanted people held to account for the debacle  - but I think we all need to focus on ensuring a stadium is built at Casement.