Progress in Derry welcome but far too slow
It is welcome news indeed that planning permission has been granted for the Meenan Square development this week but progress on this major development, like so many other projects in Derry and the wider region, has been far too slow in coming.
It was back in 2016 that the revitalisation of the Meenan Square shops site was heralded as one of the priorities of a massive £45m investment across five ‘urban villages’ in the North.
No one envisaged then that we’d still be looking at a vacant site today almost five years on from the remaining buildings there being demolished.
But when you look at other major infrastructure projects here, we shouldn’t be surprised.
The completion of the A6 upgrade is another project that has yet to be realised along with the Ballykelly bypass and the full Derry to Coleraine upgrade. Others like the A5 and the A2 Buncrana Road projects haven’t even started.
And it is only now after a campaign stretching back around 60 years that we are finally seeing concrete progress on the Magee expansion.
Those are just a few examples and this doesn’t include any of the major projects for the city and region announced amid great fanfare but which came to nothing.
Key people in politics and in other walks of life have in the past secured huge investments for Derry. We have people today continuing to stand up for the region. But far too often Stormont and London have found excuses not to fund major projects here.
We’ve sometimes been dismissed as whingers, but when you look at the historic record, we’ve every right to complain.