About the campaign
Right Facility, Wrong Location
We support the ambition to build a National Football Centre for Northern Ireland. We oppose the proposed location.
Our story
How this campaign began
Right Facility, Wrong Location is a resident led campaign representing residents of the Fenaghy Road area and others who share serious concerns about the proposal to develop a National Football Centre at Galgorm.
The campaign was born out of a residents’ meeting in late 2025, when a group of neighbours learned of this proposed development and agreed it was wrong for our area.
Some of these neighbours and residents felt that such was the influence of those behind the application that they wouldn’t have a voice in this process, and the development would be pushed through regardless of its unsuitability to our area. This campaign was created to give them a voice.
The campaign is supported by other local residents, business, charities, and people from the immediate area and further afield. The residents are backed by a panel of experts across areas including planning, architecture, acoustics, traffic, legal, economics and other areas.
Our position
We are not opposed to a National Football Centre. We are opposed to this location.
We recognise the potential benefits that a high quality National Football Centre could bring to football and sport in Northern Ireland. But we believe the proposed location is completely wrong.
A development of this scale needs to be in the right place: somewhere with the infrastructure, accessibility and surroundings capable of accommodating it without creating unacceptable consequences for an established community and its environment.
Why we are concerned
In short, the proposed development would represent a significant change to the character and use of this area. Residents have raised serious questions about the impact of the development and its operation.
Traffic on local roads: increased traffic volumes, congestion and road safety on Fenaghy Road and the surrounding network.
Noise and disturbance: training sessions, matches and events bringing sustained activity to a quiet rural setting.
Floodlighting and light pollution: illuminated pitches and buildings operating into the evening in an area with no existing light source of this scale.
Wildlife, habitats and the environment: the loss and disruption of established habitats, wildlife corridors and the wider natural environment.
Rural and residential character: the cumulative effect of a development of this size on the character of the Galgorm area and the homes within it.
Other development pressures: a proposal of this scale should be considered alongside the other development and planning pressures affecting the surrounding area, rather than being viewed in isolation.
These are legitimate planning and community concerns which we believe deserve to be properly examined and addressed before any decision is taken.
Our community
A community that deserves to be heard
Galgorm is not simply a location on a planning map. It is a place where people live, work, raise families and run businesses. Some families have connections with the area stretching back generations.
Our campaign brings people together to ensure those voices are heard. We want residents to have access to clear information about what is proposed, opportunities to make their views known, and confidence that the planning process will subject the proposal to the level of scrutiny that a development of this significance requires.
We have engaged with residents, elected representatives, public bodies and other stakeholders, and we will continue to make the case for a thorough, transparent and evidence based consideration of the proposal.
Resident voices
In their own words
Comments from residents of the Fenaghy Road area and beyond. This list grows as more people get in touch.
“
I have lived on this road for forty two years. Two cars can barely pass at the bends. I cannot picture what a match day would do to it.
Margaret H.
Fenaghy Road
Sent to the campaign
“
We are not against football. We are against putting something this big at the end of a country lane with no footpath and no bus.
David M.
Galgorm
Sent to the campaign
“
The thing that worries me most is the lighting. You can read a newspaper by the glow of a floodlit pitch from half a mile away.
Aoife K.
Cullybackey
Public post
“
Our children walk to school along this road. There is no path. That is the whole objection in one sentence.
Tom and Rita B.
Fenaghy Road
Resident meeting
“
We employ people here and we want investment in the area. Put it where the roads and the buses already are.
Local business owner
Ballymena
Sent to the campaign
On camera
Residents on camera
Hear directly from the people who live beside the proposed site.
Resident video (sample)
Fenaghy Road
Resident video (sample two)
Galgorm
Spokesperson
About Sarah Herbison
Sarah Herbison is our key backer and spokesperson. She is a passionate football fan, an Everton fan in a family that otherwise supports Liverpool.
Originally from Liverpool, Sarah met her husband Johnny Herbison, who is from Galgorm, in 1993. She moved to Northern Ireland in 1996 and lived and worked here full time until 2012. She now lives between Galgorm and London as her business is based between Northern Ireland and England. Sarah and Johnny’s twins were born at Antrim Area Hospital in 2011.
The Herbison family have lived at Ardvernis in Galgorm for three generations. Before that, the family’s roots run into Galgorm Castle itself.
Add your voice
Your objection matters
If you share these concerns, put them on the planning record before a decision is taken. Every objection is counted.