City loses outafter derelictsites snub

Mr Attwood said he intended building on a recent £405k revamp project in Portstewart and Portrush in the September monitoring round.

In July the Sentinel reported how Londonderry did not get any money to clean up derelict sites in the city ahead of UK City of Culture 2013.

The Minister had submitted a bid to the Executive in the June monitoring round in advance of 2013.

It was hoped the money could be used to regenerate derelict sites in the city in a similar manner to a recent £405k revamp project in Portstewart and Portrush.

The cash boost on the North Coast was specifically rolled out in advance of the Irish Open.

Mr Attwood said in May that he expected the Londonderry bid to be accepted after having raised the issue at the Executive table and encountered little resistance.

But Londonderry UK City of Culture was snubbed by the Executive.

Addressing the Assembly Mr Attwood said: “If you invest in the built environment - what I mean by that is not just heritage buildings but other sites of decay and dereliction - to deal with those issues of decay and dereliction, as happened, to a scale, up in Portrush and Portstewart, and multiply that practice around those coastal towns, you will stabilise trade in those towns, improve the tourist and visitor appeal of those towns and, in that way, build up the tourist product and respect for the natural heritage in those towns.

“That is why I will be putting forward a bid to the Executive in the September monitoring round to escalate the proposal that I made for Portrush and Portstewart, which was not accepted for Derry in the June monitoring round, to deploy moneys for that very purpose over the next short while.”