ILEX could create up to 10,000 jobs

The regeneration guru told the Stormont Social Development Committee that boosting tourism would be key to developing the city and that the example of Galway in the Republic of Ireland was useful as a model.

"Tourism is a big factor in that," said the ILEX chairman. "When you look at what is being done in Galway, which is a city not unlike Derry, you can see the potential."

He was subsequently asked by the Committee Chairman Simon Hamilton if erstwhile European City of Culture Liverpool was being used as a benchmark by the company.

Sir Roy replied: "We have been looking at other cities. Matt McNulty, who knows the tourism game inside out, has some very good comparators to measure our situation against.

"I think that we have everything; we can do better than Liverpool. We do not have the Beatles, but we have the other elements."

Chief Executive Dr Aideen McGinley echoed these sentiments saying: "We have the Undertones. Ironically, we have to go to Liverpool to present and pitch for the bid." She said ILEX currently have arts and cultural contacts with people in Liverpool.

The committee also heard that prior to developing its own regeneration plan ILEX reviewed a staggering 74 separate plans for the city.

It seemed clear to Sir Roy that more joined-up thinking was obviously needed to move Londonderry forward.

He said: "I did a review two and a bit years ago, and I concluded that there was a serious need for us to get our collective act together in Derry.

"We have aimed to arrive at one vision and one plan to which most, if not all, of us are signed up. As part of our preparatory work, we did an inventory of Derry's existing strategies and plans.

"We stopped at 74, which gives you some idea of the complexities that we have been working through in the past. We are keen to get buy-in from across the community for our one vision and one plan, which is why we have involved almost 1,000 people in the exercise in one way or another."

Dr McGinley also advised the committee of ILEX's principal aim of transforming and regenerating the city, its work on the two former military sites at Fort George and Ebrington and the 13.3 million peace bridge project.

Asked about developing tourism Sir Roy said: "It seems obvious to us, looking at what Derry could be, that tourism, arts and culture offer a big opportunity.

"Derry underperforms compared to Northern Ireland, which underperforms compared to most of the rest of Europe. There is tremendous scope, but we have got to create attractors.

"You can walk round the walls, but once you have done that several times, you have done the walls. There need to be other attractors, and clearly, in the areas of arts and culture, there could be a lot.

"We need to improve the tourism offering, and have better and more varied accommodation and a restaurant trade that caters more for twenty-first century tastes, and is open for twenty-first century tastes. It is quite a lot of infrastructure, but it is very doable, and it has been done elsewhere."

Dr McGinley stated: "There are 600,000 visitors to the city each year, generating around 11 million. We put a modest growth rate of between 18 per cent and 20 per cent on that, and the judges for the city bid said that they felt that we were being modest. We felt that we were being realistic, and if we can exceed the target, all the better."

Read the full transcript of the questions and answers session on the Sentinel website: www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk.