The council is insisting responsibility for replacing the boiler is down to the Education Authority. The Education Authority insists it is not.
A councillor has said that it is a “shame and disgrace” that Portaferry Sports Centre has had no heating or hot water for the last three months.
Councillor Joe Boyle, who represents the Ards Peninsula at Ards and North Down Borough Council, told fellow elected representatives this week the facility had gone “third world,” with not only no heating or hot water facilities for staff and visitors, meaning no showers, but it was also without a functioning main sports hall for the last three years.
At the November meeting of the council’s Active and Healthy Communities Committee on Wednesday, November 13, in Newtownards, elected representatives received an update from council officials on the beleaguered leisure centre, at Cloughey Road, Portaferry. The centre is run by Ards and North Down Council in a joint arrangement with the nearby St Columba’s College secondary school.
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The council is insisting responsibility for replacing the boiler is down to the Education Authority. The Education Authority insists it is not.
A report for the council committee states: “There has been no further progress in relation to the sports hall floor since the last update in September 2025.
“In September 2025 the Headmaster of the school reported that the boiler for the Sports Centre had broken down, was unrepairable and needed to be replaced. Quotes for replacement are circa £30,000.
“The replacement of the boiler is a matter for the school and Education Authority to resolve, not the council. Council officers are concerned that as the weather starts to get colder, officers may receive complaints from users and staff about temperatures within the centre, and bemoaning the lack of hot running water including showers.
“The council has installed some portable heaters as a short term measure as officers continue to press the Education Authority and school for progress.”
SDLP Councillor Joe Boyle told the chamber at the committee meeting: “We are dealing with a nightmare here in Portaferry at the minute. Three and a half years ago, in June 2022, our sports centre had its Main Hall closed.
“It’s been three months now with no heating system. The weather has been quite kind to us, in that it has been mild enough, but the Education Authority, and the (Stormont) Department of Education have been an absolute disaster, and the minister’s responses haven’t been a whole lot better.
“I think it is a shame and disgrace the way that centre is being treated. For three and a half years one sporting club on its own would have put nearly £15,000 into that centre, so we have lost that. They talk about £30,000 for a heating system. But nobody seems to want to do anything.”
He said: “Are people telling me if St Columba’s College was located in the centre of Newtownards or Bangor, and Portaferry Sports Centre was situated in Newtownards or Bangor, that it would be three and a half years before the Education Authority or Department of Education would do anything? I think not. I think being geographically isolated means out-of-sight-out-of-mind.
“But this has to stop. You cannot deprive a community, no communities: that facility was put there for the nine towns and villages of the Ards Peninsula. Schools by day, and the communities by night.”
He added: “What we are dealing with here is like something in the third world, a couple of wee heaters for staff in the corridor, and they sit together in case it gets cold. Not everybody who does a workout wants a freezing cold shower. There is no hot water in hand basins, nothing.”
He said: “The officers in both the Education Authority and the Department of Education are quite complimentary, and say if it was up to them, they would do it. Well, I’m sorry, but who is it up to? I’ve had a couple of responses from the minister, pretty useless responses to be quite honest.
“It is only last year they finished clearing the trees by St Columba’s that fell a year ago in Storm Eowyn. It’s not happening down there, and we need to get to the bottom of why it is not happening. Because any place outside of there, I would say, it would have happened long before three and half years.
“The EA says they are responsible for maintaining the boiler, but not replacing it. What sort of an arrangement is that? So they come out and fix it, but they don’t replace it? Something is going on, and it is not good, and there are communities who are not too happy about it.”
A council officer said at the meeting: “We share your frustrations, and we are certainly looking after the staff. The responsibility sits with the Education Authority, we are very clear.
“Our director has just written to the Education Authority, and has asked for a response in the next five working days, because we are very concerned as we get deeper into the depths of Winter the impact it will have on our operations.”
He added: “There is no hot water. We do have kettles, but no hot water in showers, basins or taps.”
He said: “We are asking for a decision from the Education Authority, because we ourselves are getting very close to having to make a decision as to whether we can continue to operate.” The officer said the council was taking ambient room temperatures every two hours to see if the facility was consistently falling below the legal 13 degree celsius level.
Pic from Google Maps, permitted use for all
Caption by Michael Kenwood: Portaferry Sports Centre, Cloughey Road
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