View from the Foyle: Our ask for Derry and the North West

While broadly supportive of the aims expressed in the Programme for Government, Chamber made sure to stress the importance of regional balance and targeted interventions to that effect being made a binding aspect of any Executive economic goals. The delivery of an Investment Zone that explicitly focuses on addressing regional disparity around the North West would be an example of such targeted intervention, an approach that we encourage the Executive to take to address the decades-long regional imbalance that has so deeply affected this region.

The North West, which contains NI’s second largest city and the fourth largest city region on the island of Ireland, is ripe for development and Chamber simply wants to see delivery. With this in mind, we emphasised to the Executive that they should support the UU Taskforce’s action plan and make the aim of 10,000 students a minimum. The importance of an economic development plan for the North West to deliver catalytic projects – such as the university expansion, City Deal, Foyle Port developments and city centre regeneration – in a joined-up manner was also stressed.

In keeping with this, Derry Chamber is calling for a Regional Economic Strategy for the North West, of which the expanded and permanent presence of Invest NI in the city would form a key tenet. We believe the region is a special case that necessitates specialised intervention and investment.

We have also pressed home the importance of addressing current material issues on the ground. Of the 19,000 houses currently unable to be approved to due to water infrastructure issues, 30% are located in Derry, meaning the city is missing out on adding 6,000 homes at a time when they are badly needed.

The population of the Derry metropolitan area accounts for 22.3% of Northern Ireland’s population, meaning that the area is disproportionately affected by the delays in housing caused by the inability to get to grips with water infrastructure. The failure to properly resource the building of new and comprehensive water infrastructure will have knock-on effects in all areas of the economy, both in the local North West economy and in the NI economy as a whole.

That there is a government to consult with at all is progress from the beginning of my presidency. It has been a whirlwind year of representing the best interests of the region with the returned Executive. As I prepare to hand over the reins, I know that Chamber will continue to fiercely fight the North West’s corner.

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