Derry council chief John Kelpie says cross-border working key to overcome low growth with economic forecasts poor due to Brexit and COVID

Mr. Kelpie, briefing the Stormont Executive Office committee on the challenges of Brexit, warned most forecasts suggest it will further depress economic activity.

In 2019, the local economy grew by just 0.3 per cent, said Mr. Kelpie. This was one of the lowest rates of growth in the north.

“Although there has been some employment growth, our rate is still amongst the lowest in NI, with continuing high rates of economic inactivity and unemployment,” he said.

Economists, he acknowledged, have come to different conclusions about how Brexit will affect the economy. But most are predicting negative effects. “There is still a consensus among most economists that, in the long run, it will depress economic activity on this side of the border, in the DC&SDC area, and that we will see fewer than 2,000 additional jobs created,” Mr. Kelpie said.

It is essential big ticket items in the council’s strategic growth plan are advanced on a cross-jurisdictional basis.

“This issue exists in every border city in every country in the world, if not Europe. You must look at the functional economic area of that city and district, and the functional economic area of this city and district is an area that comprises, as the mayor said, a population of between 350,000 and 400,000 people, half of whom live in one jurisdiction and half in the other. If we look at how, traditionally, we implement big strategic initiatives on a one-jurisdictional basis, we see that that will not lead to success.”