Derry City & Strabane Ulster Unionist Councillor Derek Hussey has welcomed an intense update on proposals for much-needed Health, Education and Leisure provision for Strabane and the wider area. These proposals emanate from the City Deal that Council has secured from our Government at Westminster.

Alderman Hussey said, “It is some time since our Westminster Government announced that Derry City & Strabane District Council had been successful and were awarded City Deal funding of up to £250m.

“I have constantly emphasised that such a Deal should not be just for ‘the City’ but rather should bring benefit to the entire District area and, within that, there have been longstanding major infrastructural failings beyond Londonderry that needed addressing generally but specifically in the Strabane area.

“With £102m of City Deal funding, we can begin to address issues of Health, Education and Leisure infrastructural deficit that have been obvious for many years.

“Since the announcement of City Deal regeneration Council Officers have been working intensely to put together the essential Business Cases for the project and I wholeheartedly congratulate our Council team on a fantastic job to date and thank them for their tireless efforts on our behalf.

“The Strabane Regeneration project will see a new Leisure Centre, long needed to replace the ageing Riversdale provision, being built at the Canal Basin site together with a new North West Regional College to replace the former Tech building on Derry Road which is now well past being a suitable building to provide adequate learning facilities.

“With the College moving, their vacant buildings and site on Derry Road will then be where a new Health Hub will arise bringing together three current buildings in and around Strabane onto the one site with appropriate facilities to meet the Health needs of the entire community.

“Additionally the project will seek to encourage more to have reason to be within the traditional Strabane Town Centre area and efforts to assist connectivity in and around the town include the proposed building of a long-awaited footbridge linking the Bus Station area directly into the main town centre area, something that I have again long advocated for.

“It is envisaged that the Regeneration project will greatly enhance footfall within the traditional Strabane Town Centre and assist in regenerating business and social life therein.”

Alderman Hussey concluded by adding, “It is to be further acknowledged that this £102m City Deal investment also acts as a catalyst bringing further significant additional funding from the various Government Departments such as Health, Economy and Communities together with encouraging an uplift through investment from the Private Business Sector.”