City and Trust area designated as twozones to gain from £80m social fund

LONDONDERRY will be established as one of nine investment zones that will benefit from an £80m fund to tackle deprivation and dereliction, it has been revealed.

The Western Trust health area which comprises much of counties Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh has also been designated as a separate zone.

A number of potential zones including separate Londonderry and Greater North West zones had been suggested in a consultation document on the proposals for a province-wide £80m Social Investment Fund (SIF) to build pathways to employment; tackle deprivation; increase community services; and address dereliction.

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Now the First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have revealed that following a public consultation in late 2011 the Executive has agreed nine investment zones including Londonderry and the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) area.

They stated: “The Fund will operate across nine Social Investment Zones, which we revisited to now include all areas from the start, given how strongly this emerged in the consultation.

“The nine zones will include four in Belfast (Assembly constituencies), one in Derry/Londonderry and four others aligned to the Health and Social Care Trust and Children and Young People Strategic Partnership boundaries.”

Despite Londonderry being included as an investment zone the Ministers warn that areas of need will have to be isolated within the city to ensure the funding is not spread too thin.

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“However, we must balance this with the need to ensure that Funds are not diluted to the point of minimal impact and, as such, eligibility criteria will be applied to areas within each zone,” they stated.

“This will help ensure that monies are targeted at areas of objective evidenced need. Steering Groups will be established within each zone to oversee the identification and prioritisation of objective evidenced need and to co-ordinate a strategic area plan with proposed interventions to address such need.

“We are therefore giving further thought to a number of methods of investment through SIF although the primary delivery of funding will be through the area plans.

“More details on the composition of the steering groups and eligibility criteria are on the OFMDFM website. We will continue to provide updated information on the website as we progress this work,” they added.