Drumahoe is on the up!

It’s been set up now...two years in February.

Why did people feel the need to set it up?

Well, being from Drumahoe most of my life, it started off with simple things like litter bins to try and reduce litter. We had no litter bins in Drumahoe.

Not one?

No.

Drumahoe has been there for...flip sake I lived there 40 years ago...

What happened, I don’t know. They could have been vandalised and taken away, I don’t know. I must say fair play to the boys in the Council, boys like Dessie McCrystal, because a couple of phone calls and things like that and it was sorted...flowers on lamposts to brighten up the main road - again the Council worked with us.

How important are little aesthetic things like that to an area like Drumahoe?

Do you know the amount of people that came up and said ‘Gosh it’s great to see things like this and it’s great to see that happening’ it was fantastic at the beginning and really gave you the drive to move on, but it was simple things like that that got us started as well as, obviously, we always had the thought that Faughan Valley School site was going to get developed and the Desmonds site.

What’s the story with Faughan Valley, what’s the latest?

The latest with Faughan Valley School site is that they have put in an application for outline planning permission and included in that is a mixed use development of houses and a community area. Now, in the community area we are hoping that - it will be further down the line - if it’s given the go-ahead we are looking to incorporate a MUGA (multi-use games area) pitch and play area. It will be a small astro-turf games pitch.

You are talking about a pitch - what are the plans, do you know - for the Faughan playing fields?

Well, the playing fields sites from what we are being told, they are in transition between the Western Education and Library Board and Derry City Council.

So, if you got your hands on them what would you like to see done with them - the Community Association that is?

Well, firstly we would like to see Derry City Council taking them under their ownership. We would like to see them being fenced properly to make them a secure area, get changing rooms down there and then decide what to use the pitches for - what the best use of them would be. We know that in the City, not just here in the Waterside, there is a lack of pitches for the under-7, under-8 and under-9s, smaller pitches for the kids, so even if a couple of them would be great. It would really need to be decided by the community what goes into it rather than just people coming along and saying ‘We need this for the City’, because it might not be suitable for the area, but if a need is shown, then definitely. If the pitches were properly maintained that is what we are really looking for. It is a total eyesore at the minute.

You have the old Clondermot site too, what, if any, are the plans there?

I’m not 100 per cent sure about that one there. I know that there are a lot of community things there along with Council and different agencies...

There is a lot of land in there too.

There is, there’s a lot of pitches. There is a woman up there and she is very good. She has worked with us on a number of occasions, and she had all the full plans, but that might get knocked back because of the financial restraints and it could just sit and become another white elephant if people don’t come up with the money.

There was a meeting in the City last week about the Protestant identity within the City’s regeneration plan, hosted by the Gateway to Protestant participation, and ILEX gave a presentation, and the Ebrington Barracks site was discussed. What’s your take on what’s going on there?

Well, to me the site should be more open to the community and more available for use by the community. Part of the reason we worked closely with the developers of the Desmonds site is because of the lack of the main facilities for children in the Waterside and particularly for the teenagers. Plenty of community associations have dedicated youth centres and things, but we don’t, we have no cinema or anything specifically for the Waterside. Everything is in the Cityside and I think these facilities all need to be in the Waterside as well.

Do you think that the Waterside needs its own skate park and stuff like that?

The more facilities we can get into the Waterside the better.

Do you seriously think the young people here won’t go across to Fort George to the skate park over there?

Without a doubt. There is still a mentality among the youth that they are still, not scared, ehm...a bit dubious of heading over especially on their own.

So you don’t think a skateboard park on the Fort George site is...how can I put it...it’s right for that side of the river, but you think there is a need for something here...

If it is the right location for a skateboard park then fair and good, but things need to be incorporated into somewhere in the Waterside area, should it be the Browning Drive site or somewhere else in the Waterside - Crescent Link, Drumahoe...If you have seen the plans for Drumahoe they are fantastic, but yet again, they are lying in the Planning Section, so...if and when they come out...

Do you think provision for teens for skateboarding, roller blading and stuff should be at a place like St Columb’s Park..?

Yeah. St Columb’s Park is a great facility, it is a great expanse of land and if you incorporate it along with the Browning Drive site it is a massive area of land - no other city in the UK, I’m sure, has such a great development space. I know a lot of people are making great money in doing all these great plans, but if they spoke to the community like they are going to do now, they will be told exactly what the community needs rather than them pointing us in a certain direction.

Would you call on the planners and those with ‘sway’ to listen, and do you think people need to contribute to the 12-week consultation period that we have entered into ?

Yeah, the better the consultation the better the communities’ views will be heard.

What would you like to see for young people, given you have connections with ’Stute and the community association? What are the young people asking you for?

We got results back from the Waterside Area Partnership consultation a few years ago and the majority of the folk in the Waterside know what the Waterside needs. Incorporated in the plans for Drumahoe at the Desmonds site is really everything that the Waterside has been crying out for - cinema, bowling alley, indoor soccer pitches, ice rink, health care facilities as well as the retail outlet...all those facilities - even the city centre ones aren’t ideal because you cannot get parked. Coming out late at night people are a bit scared, you know? You need a big, open, neutral space for everybody. We don’t need things that area just for the Waterside, it needs to be open to people from further afield, you know?