Ball kicked from MUGA damaged roof of house

The Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) at Brooke Park has now been closed for health and safety reasons following ongoing complaints from local people about balls escaping onto neighbouring residential areas and a busy road network.

The Council’s Health and Community Committee was told that the bill for designing, acquiring and installing netting to prevent future issues could be over £30,000.

The Committee was told that further funding will be needed to repair the damage to the house. A recent inspection of the damaged roof has indicated that the roof tiles contain asbestos and that “in terms of the duty of care to both the resident and maintenance/ contractor teams this risk needs to be managed with the utmost due diligence”, a Council officer said.

The Council was asked to approve additional budget allocation to undertake necessary remedial works, subject to the outcome of a competitive procurement process and confirmation of budget allocation.

Sinn Fein Councillor Eric McGinley proposed the committee accept the recommendations but expressed disappointment that such issues were not foreseen.

Independent Colr. Darren O’Reilly said that coming up to the Foyle Cup it was vital that urgent arrangements were made to accommodate young players.