Balmoral Show to move to the Maze next year

THE Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) is expected to confirm today (Tuesday) it has signed a contract for a 55-acre site on the land of the former Maze Prison which will see the Balmoral Show moving to the site in 2013.

It is thought the RUAS has earmarked £4m for the project with most of the existing showground at Balmoral sold off for housing to help fund the move.

Colin McDonald, the chief executive of RUAS, told the BBC the deal would be formalised on Tuesday.

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“We will be signing the heads of terms of this agreement and this will give us the option to purchase 55 acres now, with an option for a further 10,” he said.

“It will give us the chance at last to go out to engage with our members to tell them what our vision for the future of the society might be.”

Mr McDonald told Good Morning Ulster there was no government subsidy involved in the deal and that RUAS were paying the going rate for agricultural land in the deal.

He also said it could take “25 years to have this Maze complex the way we would want it to be”.

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“The Balmoral Show will only be one part of the actual society at the Maze,” he said.

“The rest of it we see as being the seed, the hub, for a centre of excellence which will be like a science park but for agriculture, which will attract inward investment from countries that come to Northern Ireland.”

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