The project, which was designed to see the rebirth of the Strabane canal to its former glory days, has not been ‘officially’ opened to the public despite being ‘completed’ and handed over to Strabane District Council in December of last year.

The delay in the official opening is a result of an ongoing dispute over health and safety concerns between the council and Strabane Lifford Development Commission, the voluntary group who were granted £1.3 million to complete the project.

Speaking last night to the ‘Journal’ the Chairman of Strabane District Council, Jarlath McNulty said that the canal site had not been finished up to the “standards” that Strabane Lifford Development Commission were contracted for.

“From day one, the council was not happy with the canal site. The fact of the matter is that the site is not fully finished and we as a council cannot open it to the public until we are confident that it is safe,” Colr. McNulty said.

Conceding that members of the public still use the canal site for recreational purposes, Councillor McNulty said that the council have “fenced off” the area to prevent any accidents.

“There are still major outstanding issues that need to be resolved, particularly in relation to the footbridge, the access ramps and associated hand rails.

“While the council are keen to have the facility open to the public, there are some outstanding issues. These issues were an integral part of the original contract and have major implications in relation to health and safety, water flow in the canal, access for the disabled and indeed long term maintenance,” he said.

While the council have taken steps to assure the ratepayers that they would not have to foot the bill for these additional safety measures, they have yet to confirm where exactly the money will come from to provide these safety measures as the commission have already spend all of their funding money.

“There is the possibility that limited additional funding may be made available to deal with some of these fundamental issues, Strabane District Council should not be expected to part-fund further work from the ratepayers.

“We understand the frustration of the local community in not having this facility open but we believe that the outstanding issues are critical to the completion of this original contract and therefore cannot be ignored.

“Our ratepayers should be assured that we are committed to moving this issue forward in the best interests of all our ratepayers,” Colr. McNulty said.

When contacted, the Strabane Lifford Development Commission said they could not comment on the matter until a new manager had been appointed for the Commision.