Decision on football club's new stadium in 'final stages'

A decision on plans for a football club's new stadium - first submitted eight years ago - is in "its final stages", a Stormont department has said.

Strabane Athletic Football Club submitted plans for the multi-sport stadium in 2018 with the application approved by Derry City and Strabane District Council in 2021. In 2022 the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) said it would make a final ruling on the application.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said the delay could not be justified and was "holding the club back".

A DfI spokesperson said a decision on the plans was now "in its final stages and will be issued as soon as possible".

The club's plans include an outdoor football ground, a full-size indoor 3G arena as well as community facilities.

Formed in 2010, Strabane Athletic has enjoyed on the field success over a number of years and will play in the second tier of Northern Irish senior football for the first time next season.

But they face having to play games away from their County Tyrone home town as Melvin Arena – where they currently play home games – does not meet Irish Football Association criteria.

Club captain Liam McMenamin told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme the club's infrastructure needed to keep up with the on-the-pitch success.

"Hopefully going forward the success continues on the pitch which will probably add that wee bit of pressure to get things done," he said.

McCrossan said the plans should be given the green light and, while he supported the need for "due process", there was "absolutely no excuse for the delays of this nature".

"The club would be better off knowing if this is going to be passed or not, because at least then they can move on and stop pouring money, good after bad, into this project when it may not even happen," he told BBC Radio Foyle.

"The reality is it should happen, as I've said there's huge support in this community - this club has been built up from the grassroots."

It is one of a number of local sports team "pouring huge amounts of time and investment into the development of their young people," he added.

In Northern Ireland, councils make decisions on local planning applications but the department can step in to make a final ruling if it believes an application raises issues of regional importance.

The DfI spokesperson said the decision to call in the club's application was made because the department "considered that it raised a number of regional and sub-regional issues which required more detailed assessment".

In 2023 DfI issued a Notice of Opinion to refuse the application.

Derry City and Strabane District Council then requested the opportunity to appear before the Planning Appeals Commission.

That hearing took place in September 2025 with the PAC report delivered to the department in November.

"Given the complexity of the issues involved and the need to carefully balance competing considerations, the application has required detailed scrutiny," the DfI spokesperson said.