'˜Open' Magee can improve Strand Road lot

The discussions focused on opening up the college’s estate and services to the local community and were supported by Collette Cassidy, Vice President of the Students’ Union.

Sinn Féin Councillor, Mickey Cooper, who facilitated the meeting, said there was an opporunity to make the Ulster’ University’s facilities and events more accessible to non-enrolled members of public.

This would be especially beneficial for The Strand, which last year, was deemed the fifth most deprived area in the whole of the North, scoring particularly badly on its ‘Living Environment’.

Colr. Cooper said he believed Magee could help address these problems by opening up.

“I was delighted that the residents could meet the Magee management to discuss a range of issues. These included the lack of play provision in the Lower Strand area which has led to a number of short and longer term options being explored,” he said.

“We also discussed how events run by the university such as open days and fun days could be made accessible to the residents of Lower Strand and other residential areas in the vicinity and also how campus facilities such as the library could be opened up for use by the local community.

“I will be engaging with the Magee management and the residents in the coming weeks to move some of the proposals to fruition. Their implementation will begin to reinforce the idea that the Magee campus is not just an academic institution sitting in isolation from the areas around it but is instead fully integrated into the life of the local community both today and in the future as it moves towards expansion.”