NIFL Premiership side Glentoran is set to construct a new £9.2M ($13.5M), 8,000 capacity, 6,000-seat stadium on the site of its existing Oval grounds in East Belfast, according to the BBC. At the club's Annual General Meeting on Monday night, "supporters approved a board recommendation to demolish and redevelop the Oval." Funding will come from the Glens' share of the NI Executive's £110M ($161M) sports grounds improvement program. The club has settled on the "complete reconstruction" of its present site, with "additional money being raised from the sale of surplus land for social housing" (BBC, 5/24). In Belfast, Jim Gracey reported the plan is for a completely redeveloped stadium financed from the £10M ($14.6M) set aside for a new Glentoran ground under the Government funding program "for sports grounds across the board." Plans "show four completely new stands enclosing a pitch turned 90 degrees from its present position with goalmouths backed by the Sydenham by-pass and Mersey Street." Uncertainty has made Glentoran "late to the party as other new and redeveloped stadia have sprung up across the sporting landscape," most notably Windsor Park and Ulster Rugby’s Kingspan. Other Irish League clubs have also benefited. Glentoran Chair Stephen Henderson said, "It has been a long time coming but at last we are in a position to move forward with a set of realistic plans." Historical reasons apart, Glentoran "opted for a new home from home over alternative proposals" to build on the old Esso site at Sydenham or in Titanic Quarter, to ensure its share of the Government "treasure trove for sport." Wording in the original DCAL document announcing the funding for football grounds appears to stipulate Glentoran’s £10M share be used for "redevelopment of The Oval" (BELFAST TELEGRAPH, 5/24).
