City refusedclean up cash

The Minister 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.

Speaking in May the Minister declared: “Money should now flow to Derry in advance of 2013 for the same reasons as Portrush and Portstewart.”

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

But now the Minister has revealed that Londonderry UK City of culture has been snubbed.

Addressing a debate on archaeological artefacts at the Stormont Assembly just before the summer recess Mr Attwood revealed that: “Derry/Londonderry did not get any money for the built heritage and built environment proposals that I put forward in the monitoring round.”

The Minister said there needed to be a “strategic shift, not a little bit of money being made available in monitoring rounds” to properly safeguard Londonderry and Northern Ireland’s built heritage.

The £405k cash injection for the North Coast was used by Coleraine Borough Council to demolish buildings, repair, secure and paint others, and landscape a number of sites to create urban parks.

Under the project the Metropole Hotel in Portrush and the Strand Hotel in Portstewart were scheduled for demolition.

An urban park was also created and a number of buildings throughout the towns repaired.

The problem of derelict and vacant buildings in Londonderry is an ongoing issue.

In April the Sentinel reported over 800 business premises in Londonderry lay desolate.

There were 13 empty factories, 270 empty warehouses and stores and 167 empty shops in Londonderry, according to the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson.

A total of 817 unoccupied non-domestic properties were vacant here at March 18. This was up from 787 in 2010.

Of the 817 unoccupied properties in the city six were advertising stations and signs, 13 were manufactories (down from 24 in 2010), six were non-sporting recreational facilities, 227 were offices (including banks and post-offices), 167 were shops, showrooms and supermarkets and 270 were warehouses, stores, workshops and garages. Ninety-six were unclassified.