£2.8m Dungiven sports centre '˜coming on well'

A meeting of Dungiven Sports Forum will be held tonight at 8pm at St. Canice’s GAC in Dungiven to update local sports clubs about the progress of the project.

“It’s coming on well, to be fair,” said Sinn Fein councillor Sean McGlinchey.

“It’s really starting to take shape and you can start to see how it will look when completed.

“There is a lot of talk and interest in it, and people can see for themselves how it’s shaping up. After all the negativity it’s great to see the project shaping up so well. Fair play to all the Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council officials who have been involved and who have pushed this project forward.”

The new facilities will include a pavilion with dance studio, sports hall, gym, changing rooms and kitchen, while the complex will incorporate a floodlit 3G pitch set against a backdrop of Benbradagh mountain.

A spokesperson for Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council said: “The Dungiven Sports Project is progressing well and is on schedule for completion in early Spring 2017.

“The project has received wide spread support in the Dungiven area, and residents and local sporting clubs are eagerly awaiting the opening of the new facility.”

The £2.8 million project received the green light in the new year after months of controversy over funding.

The Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure is providing £2.5m in funding for a new sports and leisure complex in Dungiven, while the remaining £339,000 is being met by the council.

Work officially started on the Curragh Road facility in March with the then sports minister Carál Ní Chuilín cutting the first sod.

Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council have previously said it is expected the facility will retain the name currently in use, that being Dungiven Sports Pavilion, and Colr. McGlinchey agrees.

“Personally, I think it should be called Dungiven Sports Pavilion,” said Colr. McGlinchey. “That’s the name in use for the current building, and the name everyone knows.”

The Dungiven sports project has been in the pipeline for years, dating back to the days of Limavady Borough Council.

The original proposal was scaled back from an original cost of some £7 million to just under £3 million, amid funding concerns from unionist councillors on Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council.