Call to start the wheels turning on Velodrome as Lisburn’s ‘legacy’

THE success of Team GB in the Cycling Velodrome during the past week of Olympic action has led a local councillor to call on the Stormont Executive to scrap plans for the Conflict Resolution Centre at the Maze, and instead build a Velodrome.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Aug 2012, 10:00 BST

From Sir Chris Hoy to Victoria Pendleton, as well as the countless individuals and teams who have won gold at London 2012, cyclists have created an excitement across the country and brought joy to millions.

Now Lisburn Councillor Ronnie Crawford has suggested that such a venue in the local area would boost Lisburn’s proud sporting heritage and be a more ‘useful legacy’ for local people.

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Mr Crawford commented: “Given the magnificient and thrilling performance of the British cyclists in the Olympics and the boost it will give the sport, now is the time for the First and Deputy First Ministers to pull the plug on the so-called peace and reconciliation centre at the Maze, demolish the H-block and hunger strike hospital and build a Velodrome on the site which would be a much more useful legacy for our sporting community.

“It is a nonsense that Northern Ireland should be held up as an example of a successful peace process as there is no real democracy in the Assembly which is, rather like the old communist states, a body without an opposition and, as SDLP leader Alistair McDonnell claims this week, with one party recycling former gunmen into prominent positions. If anything it is an affront to democracy which would be better hidden from the world.”

He added: “I would urge all our elected representatives to put this £20 million to better use by giving the growing cycling fraternity the means of nuturing local talent rather than building an ugly reminder of our inglorious past and our failure to restore a proper democracy to this part of the United Kingdom.”

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Related topics:LisburnStormont Executive