Derry City FC's Brandywell purchase agreed in principle

Plans to sell the Ryan McBride Brandywell stadium in Londonderry to Derry City FC have been agreed in principle by councillors in the city.

The stadium has been owned by the local council since Derry City FC's formation in 1928, with the club using the stadium under a series of short-term licences.

On Tuesday, Derry City and Strabane District Council's governance committee approved the sale in principle, despite some councillors raising concerns about the lack of engagement with other groups that use the stadium.

Any sale, councillors were told, would require Derry City to pay market value for the stadium, which includes a greyhound track and costs around £500,000 a year to run.

Sinn Féin councillor Emma McGinley told the meeting she would be backing the recommendations contained in a council report with the "caveat that there is urgent stakeholder engagement with those who use the facility".

SDLP councillor Sean Mooney said the sale "is a very important issue… and far from a done deal".

"We should enter into this process but we need to robustly engage with all stakeholders," he said.

Shaun Harkin, a People Before Profit councillor, said while Derry City deserve to own their own ground", he also highlighted a lack of engagement with other organisations in the area, and "about expenses council would be wracking up".

Harkin, the only councillor to abstain when the proposals were put to members, asked that the matter be deferred to a meeting of full council.

DUP councillor Niree McMorris said she was agreeing in principle to the sale, but was also "supportive of comprehensive engagement".

The council's chief executive John Kelpie told the committee that council will "set out a very detailed engagement with stakeholders".

He said that process could not happen until the committee had agreed the sale in principle.

A letter from the Brandywell Greyhound Racing Company was also read to councillors by independent councillor Gary Donnelly.

In it, the company asked why "approval in principle being sought before the stakeholder engagement referred to in the report has taken place?".

The company said the process needs to be one that is "open, transparent and gives all affected stakeholders a genuine opportunity to be heard".

In March last year, the council agreed in principle to move towards a long-term lease of the ground, which was seen at the time as a potential pathway for the club, who play in the top tier of professional association football in the Republic of Ireland, to have eventual ownership and a possible route to funding through the NI Football Fund.

The club, along with several others, was ultimately unsuccessful in securing that funding and the decision is now being appealed in the courts.

Under the Londonderry Corporation Act 1918, the council cannot grant a lease or licence for the stadium lasting more than one year.

The council supports the idea of a long-term lease for the club, which plays in the League of Ireland, but that cannot happen unless the law is changed at Stormont.

The council report presented to councillors on Tuesday states that legal restriction is now driving the proposal to sell the stadium outright, as changing the law could take several years.

The report also highlighted concerns over the Southend Stand, where an independent survey found that most of the seating has exceeded its expected lifespan.

Only 604 of the stand's 2,064 seats are expected to remain safe beyond the end of the 2026 season, reducing the stadium's safe capacity to 4,765.

Replacing the seats is estimated to cost about £156,000, which the council says can be funded from underspent money in last year's budget.

The report also outlined the ongoing cost of operating the Brandywell and the adjoining greyhound track.

The report states annual operating costs of around £591,000, offset by income of about £48,000, leaving a net annual cost of about £475,000.

According to the report, income is expected to fall because of the new hybrid pitch, which will significantly reduce the number of matches and bookings the ground can accommodate.

A new grass-hybrid surface was successfully installed at the club's Brandywell ground last month.

All regular bookings, apart from Derry City, Institute and Sion Swifts, have already been moved to other council-owned facilities.

The Candystripes had been playing their games at Celtic Park, home of Derry GAA, while the transformation has been taking place.

An ageing synthetic 3G pitch, which had come under criticism in recent years, was replaced with a high-tech hybrid pitch, followed by the installation of a state-of-the-art irrigation system beneath the playing surface.