Councillors bemoan lack of progress at Ice Bowl
FRUSTRATION bubbled over as Lisburn and Castlereagh councillors bemoaned slow progress towards the redevelopment of the Dundonald Ice Bowl.
The wait for redevelopment of the site off Old Dundonald Road has gone on for several years.
The Ice Bowl opened in 1986 and has around 600,000 visitors every year, with the original revamp pencilled in for 2017 before the project was put on hold.
In 2019, the council released a first glimpse of its proposal to revamp the Ice Bowl.
The new proposal included a new Olympic-sized rink, ten pin bowling alley, cafe, healthcare centre and gym.
The annoyance of councillors came from a Capital Projects Committee this week — with one councillor labelling a new report on the project as “ludicrous”.
In the new report, issued after councillors requested monthly updates on the project, it was revealed that five options would be compiled for further discussion.
These options included phasing of the construction of components, and the removal of some those components entirely from phase one, including the omission of a healthcare centre, adventure facilities and a play park.
Alderman David Drysdale said the options outlined by the council were “mystifying”, adding that “he didn’t know where officers were trying to go with the report”.
“I thought there would have been more correspondence from the Department [for Communities] on the project and more clarification on the so called £5m that was offered,” he said.
“I would have been interested to see if any letters had been exchanged with [GP] surgeries and other businesses who are interested because good business attracts other business.”
Councillors previously committed to net spending no more than £36.2m on the project.
However, Lisburn and Castlereagh’s Director of Service Transformation Donal Rogan said there was another option which would include maintaining healthcare while omitting adventure facilities and a new play park from phase one of the redevelopment.
He added: “This is all about the metrics.
“We need to bring forward to you the evidence based around the decision that you need to make around the investment [and] that is what we are in the process of working up and we won’t leave any stone unturned and you will get sight of it.”