Equal footing under RPA 'a necessity'

During the piloting of the adult 'Do You Get the Guildhall' event on Wednesday, the Mayor, Paul Fleming, acknowledged that after RPA the combined council of Londonderry and Strabane would not only be the smallest of the new council areas, but would also be the most economically deprived.

The women were told that already there is a transition committee in place comprising members of both councils and officers, who are tasked with making the amalgamation a smooth transition process.

He made the acknowledgement in response to questions from the former DUP Alderman and Mayor, Mildred Garfield, who asked: "What do you think the impact will be on Derry City Council when it is restructured under RPA, and what effect will it have on the community?"

Mr Fleming said that a lot of issues were 'in doubt at the minute' including RPA itself, adding: "If RPA goes ahead the 26 councils will become 11 councils and in terms of our own council we will amalgamate with Strabane. RPA will bring more powers into local government, into areas such as planning, which I suggest will be a major positive as regards community planning, but it goes without saying that it will bring its challenges as well.

However, he continued: "There is a necessity to build into plans to ensure that deprivation being offset is taken into account, so that each council is given a level playing field. That would have to be taken into account by central government, because the way this has worked at Derry and Strabane have the worst deprivation, so it will need some kind of system operating right across the board, and criteria which is fair, but takes the level of deprivation into account and will compensate for it," he said.