Planning permission has been granted for a huge re-development at Shamrock Park – the home of Portadown FC.
The club was given the green light for the plans at a meeting of ABC Council’s planning committee on Wednesday night.
They’ve been well-known in local football circles since their inception in 1887, making Shamrock Park the home venue in 1906.
The proposed upgrades to the Brownstown Road ground include the replacement of the derelict old home stand at the Rectory side.
The existing 800-seat stand will be replaced with a 1,046 seater stand, increasing the overall capacity by 246 seats.
The existing training area will also be replaced with state-of-the-art training and community facilities, contained within a dome structure.
Among other changes to be made will be the relocation of the existing grass pitch, which will be upgraded to a 3G playing pitch.
There will also be a resitting of existing floodlights, a new turnstile block, provision of business and community space, including within the ground of the new spectator stand, car and coach parking, alongside other ancillary works and associated site works.
Commenting on the approval, Portadown FC General Manager, Mark Beattie said: “This has been long in the making and has seen a lot of hard work and ambition by all those involved to get us this far.
“This just reinforces our resolve to see this plan come to fruition and make Shamrock Park into a top class facility that will serve the local community and town with pride.
“Lastly to our board, patrons and stakeholders, it is only with your help that we have got this far but the work isn’t stopping there and we could use more & more people coming along and signing up to the patron scheme which is even more important than ever so if you are able to please consider signing up to our Redevelopment Patron scheme and let’s drive this home together.”
Upper Bann MLA Jonathan Buckley said: “This is an ambitious project that will cement Shamrock Park and Portadown Football Club in the heart of the local community for many years to come.
“I have worked closely with the club on this project and I commend all those behind the scenes dedicated to this vision.”
Read more: Portadown FC hope to score approval as plans now submitted to transform Shamrock Park
