Bumper £1.2m awarded to Northern Ireland sports facility
A Northern Ireland sports facility is set to benefit from a bumper £1.2m in funding support.
Mid Ulster District Council has received the significant investment through Sport NI’s National Lottery Funded Multi Facility Fund. It will allow the venue to undergo a major upgrade including an eight-lane athletics track, 3G synthetic pitch, floodlighting, fencing, and ancillary works.
Sport NI’s Multi Facility Fund, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, provides investment to create multi facility environments (with a mixture of indoor and/or outdoor provision) creating more opportunities for community participation in sport.
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The project will deliver a Track Mark accredited athletics facility, and a FIFA accredited synthetic surface for association football, complementing the existing high-quality facilities within the arena.
Sport NI Interim CEO, Richard Archibald said: “At Sport NI we believe in the power of sport to change lives, and our National Lottery funded Multi-Facility Fund is helping councils like Mid Ulster maximise sporting opportunities for local communities.
“Thanks to this investment, the Mid Ulster Sports Arena will strengthen its position as a community hub for sport, providing more opportunities for sports clubs, community groups, youth groups, schools and residents from across the district to participate in sport and physical activity.”
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has welcomed the £1.2M investment into the Mid Ulster Sports Arena for the community across Cookstown and surrounding areas.
Minister Lyons said: “This significant investment will create a fantastic community facility, encouraging more participation in football and athletics. The funding will play an important role in helping more people of all ages and abilities to be more active, more often.”
Chair of Mid Ulster District Council, Councillor Eugene McConnell said: “We are grateful to Sport NI and the National Lottery funded Multi-Facility Fund for this significant investment, one which will make a huge difference at Mid Ulster Sports Arena, and more importantly, to the opportunities to participate in sport that it will provide for our local community.
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`'We hope the new inclusive facilities will help our rural residents, our young athletes, and our sportspeople with a disability to fulfil their future potential in their chosen field and I look forward to seeing the results now and in the years to come.”
Sport NI has worked closely with Mid Ulster District Council and Disability Sport Northern Ireland to ensure the design is fully inclusive for people with disabilities and meets the requirements of the Inclusive Sports Facility Guidelines.
The Multi Facility Fund, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, provides investment to create multi facility environments (with a mixture of indoor and/or outdoor provision) and has awarded over £3 million to projects in Mid Ulster and Strabane in recent months.
This project is made possible thanks to National Lottery players, who raise over £30m for good causes every week.
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