Dhu Varren estate backing for Action Team

RESIDENTS of the Dhu Varren estate in Portrush have emphatically said they want Dhu Varren Community Action Team to continue and that a community facility is needed in the estate.

The findings were identified as part of an independent evaluation by Rubicon as part of the Areas at Risk programme, an initiative of the Department of Social Development.

The audit was part of the evaluation process of the Dhu Varren Community Action Team, and shows that a lot of local people have attended activities organised by the Community Action Team in the estate.

Some of the findings of the residents' survey include:

* 82% believe the project should continue;

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* 58% believe the estate has changed for the better in the last two years;

* 69% believe the estate continues to need a community house;

* 31% of people replying had attended activities in the community house in the last year;

51% believed the estate had changed for the better with just 23% said the estate had got worse, the remainder said no change;

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50% believed the Dhu Varren Community Action Team project had been successful, with just 15% saying it had been average.

Angela McDonald of Dhu Varren Community Action Team, said: "The Dhu Varren Community Action Team project has made a difference to the lives of people in this estate. We are grateful for the support of the local community over the last two years of the project.

"We believe funders and public agencies need to be conscious of the importance of the project locally, and the negative impact if the project were to cease to exist.

"There has been positive change and it would be a pity to see that progress lost because of an inability to find a fairly small amount of funding to keep the project going."

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Peter Osborne from Rubicon said: "We really appreciate the feedback we received which has helped to demonstrate the achievement of the Dhu Varren Community Action Team project so far, and why it should continue to be supported."

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