£1.5m expansion plan for Salto

The club, which earlier this year received a visit from Lord Sebastian Coe following their Olympic involvement, when they hosted the Gold medal winning Chinese team in 2012, have produced a plan for a £1.5m expansion.

Jonathan Craig MLA who organised the meeting with the Minister, representatives of Salto and himself said, “It has been apparent for some time with the huge waiting lists of over 800 children and young people wanting to attend Salto, that there is a clear need for this elite and much loved centre to be expanded and developed to meet the ever growing demand.

“The purpose of arranging the meeting with the Sports Minister and Salto was for the Minister to hear first-hand from the club, of the wonderful plans that they have for the expansion of the centre and to work with the Minister’s Department to deliver the £1.5m needed to see these plans come to a reality.”

Mr Craig added, “Following on from the very successful visit to Salto from the Olympic winning Chinese gymnastics team prior to last year’s London Olympics and the tremendous work that Salto is doing, supporting gymnastics in Northern Ireland, I know the Sports Minister shares my belief that Salto needs support. In this regard, I welcome the commitment by the Minister to fund the business case/economic appraisal concerning this expansion and I would like to thank the Minister for agreeing to the meeting with myself and the Club and welcome her continuing support for the City of Lisburn Salto Gymnastics Club.”

Cllr Uel Mackin, who also attended the meeting, added: “As Chair of Lisburn City Council’s Planning Committee, I assured the Sports Minister that my Committee would do everything in its power to support Salto through the planning process and work with the D.O.E. to have these expansion plans a reality.”