£7.1m Brandywell approval will dispel negativity: Colr.

Mr Campbell said: “It puts to bed all of the negativity over the stand.”

He added: “This is good news for the Brandywell area and for the club.”

Ms McFarland told the Health and Community Committee on Thursday how officers were now finalising a licensing agreement with Derry City Football Club.

Officers are also in the advanced stages of an expression of interest process following a tender for an operator of the new dog track at the new Brandywell.

In a report to the committee, Ms McFarland stated: “Council has also approved a sum of £5.7m of Council funding for this project (including a £730k underwrite).

“A sum of £155k will also be transferred from the approved Brandywell Sports Centre budget as the demolition costs will form part of this contract.”

She once again underlined, however, how the phased development of the stadium, the most famous tenant of which is Derry City FC, is reliant on a cocktail of funding from a variety of sources.

“Other funding has been secured of £1.079m from SIF and £76k from NIHE. “This brings the total funding for the project to £7.01m,” she said.